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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Council Offices, Monkton Park, Chippenham

Contact: Natalie Heritage  01225 718062 Email: Natalie.Heritage@wiltshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

42.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr Groom and Cllr Packard.

 

Cllr Packard was substituted by Cllr Hurst.

43.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 30 March 2016.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 March 2016 were presented.

 

Resolved:

To approve as a true and correct record and sign the minutes.

44.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

45.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chairman.

Minutes:

The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the following matters: The evacuation procedures; the procedure for public participation; and the policy on recording and broadcasting of meetings.

46.

Public Participation and Councillors' Questions

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

 

Statements

Members of the public who wish to speak either in favour or against an application or any other item on this agenda are asked to register in person no later than 2:50pm on the day of the meeting.

 

The Chairman will allow up to 3 speakers in favour and up to 3 speakers against an application and up to 3 speakers on any other item on this agenda. Each speaker will be given up to 3 minutes and invited to speak immediately prior to the item being considered. The rules on public participation in respect of planning applications are detailed in the Council’s Planning Code of Good Practice.

 

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution which excludes, in particular, questions on non-determined planning applications. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Wednesday 13 April 2016. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

 

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the rules on public participation and that no questions had been submitted.

 

47.

Planning Appeals

An appeals update report is attached for information.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted the contents of the appeals update. It was stated that application number ‘14/09744/WCM’ held an error and should read approve under the Officer’s recommendation, as opposed to refuse.

48.

Planning Applications

To consider and determine planning applications as detailed below.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Attention was drawn to the late list of observations provided at the meeting and attached to these minutes, in respect of applications 15/07244/FUL - Land at Moor Lane Farm, Minety, Wiltshire and 15/10457/OUT - Land at Former Blounts Court Nursery, Studley Lane, Studley, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 9NQ, as listed in the agenda pack.

48a

15/07244/FUL - Land At Moor Lane Farm, Minety, Wiltshire

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The planning officer, Mathew Pearson, introduced the report and outlined that the application was for the proposed construction of a Solar Farm, comprising Solar Arrays, Inverters, Transformers, Equipment Housing, Security Fencing, CCTV Cameras, Internal Tracks and Ancillary Equipment. He explained that the proposed construction was for a 4.5 megawatt solar farm on 2 fields, measuring approximately 9.2 hectares. It was noted that the PROW would be retained on its current line. Photographs, a map of the area, as well as a map of the proposed cable routings were shown. It was highlighted that National Policy fundamentally supported renewable energy projects and that the proposed site for the solar farm had not been deemed the most versatile or highest quality agricultural land. Mr Pearson noted that the public benefit to the solar farm, as well as the national policy directive, outweighed the loss of the agricultural land and the less than substantial harm to the setting of the adjacent listed building. 

 

Attention was drawn to the late list of observations provided with the agenda supplement. Mr Pearson detailed that Wiltshire Council was not aware of any brownfield land that would be suitable for the development and that the neighbour notification process for the Planning Application went over and above that required by the Town and Country Planning Act.

 

In response to technical questions, it was confirmed that the solar farm would be in operation for 30 years and, once this period expired, it would be returned to its former state. Some members raised concern about the agreement of a Construction Management Plan and a Traffic Management Plan. Mr Pearson drew attention to condition 13 of the application and advised that point 5 of condition 13 could be amended to request that a compound for construction vehicles be used and noted that development of the site would be unable to commence, until both a Construction Traffic Management Plan and a means of access had been finalised. It was highlighted that Highways Officers had stated that any damage that may be caused to Minety’s roads as a result of the development, would have to be repaired.

 

Nicola Dow spoke against the application. James Wallwork spoke in support of the application.

 

Cllr Cook (Minety Parish Council) spoke against the application.

 

Cllr Berry spoke in his capacity as the local division member.

 

In the debate that followed, several points were raised, which included: that the proposed development site was renowned for flooding; that the proposed construction plan could be further improved; that there was an over provision of solar energy in the UK; that the highway network in Minety was not deemed suitable for HGVs; that the proposed cabling route was not deemed feasible; that the safety of the public needed to be determined, if members of the public were to access the PROW within the field.

 

Cllr Sturgis proposed, seconded by Cllr Chivers, that the application be deferred and brought back to the Committee as soon as reasonably possible, once additional information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48a

48b

15/10457/OUT - Land at Former Blounts Court Nursery, Studley Lane, Studley, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 9NQ

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The planning officer, Mark Staincliffe, introduced the report and outlined that the application was an outline planning application for the development of 53 residential dwellings, including access, car parking, landscaping and associated infrastructure. He explained that, should planning permission be granted, it would extinguish the extant planning permission for a garden centre on site.

 

It was highlighted that the application was for a change to a previously submitted and approved application; the application under consideration was for a larger site that had previously been granted permission. It was explained that the application now under consideration was a mix of previously developed land and greenfield land, whereas the smaller site was classified as previously developed land. Mr Staincliffe explained that, as planning permission had previously been consented for the smaller site; construction could commence on the section of the site that had obtained planning permission. A site location plan and indicative layout for the previously approved scheme were shown.

 

It was detailed that the site was adjacent to the Vastern Timber Mill and that an acoustic fence had been built to minimise any detrimental noise impact. Mr Staincliffe highlighted that the subsequent measurements of the noise impact from the sawmill had been classed as better than required by the planning condition attached to the original consent; the Council’s public protection team identified that the only noise disruption was from the main adjacent A4 road. Mr Staincliffe informed the meeting of the fact that the application was recommended to be delegated to the Area Development Manager, subject to the signing of a Section 106 agreement, which had to be signed within 6 months; otherwise the application would be refused.

 

Attention was drawn to the late list of observations provided with the agenda supplement. It was outlined that a toucan crossing had been proposed across the A4 road, to link the proposed development to the adjacent Derry Hill residential site. It was explained that, in principle, Highways officers had had no objection to the toucan crossing; however, it was not the responsibility of the Committee to decide upon whether such a crossing was deemed appropriate in the location shown on the indicative plans, in addition, the precise location would be controlled by planning condition, once the position had been agreed with the Council’s Highway department.

 

In response to technical questions from the Committee, Mr Staincliffe confirmed that the speed limit of the A4 road could be reduced to 50 mph, as well as the provision of the toucan crossing across the road.

 

Ioan Rees, Janet Robbins and Peter Barnes spoke in objection to the application.

 

Peter Lawson spoke in support of the application.

 

Cllr French (Calne Without Parish Council) also spoke in objection to the application.

 

Cllr Crisp spoke in her capacity as the local division member.

 

In the debate that followed several points were raised, such as the following: that as the Chippenham DPD Sites had been suspended, Wiltshire was currently unable to demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply; that for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48b

49.

Urgent Items

Any other items of business which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be taken as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.