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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN. View directions

Contact: Stuart Figini  Email: stuart.figini@wiltshire.gov.uk

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Items
No. Item

9.

Apologies

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Pip Ridout, who was substituted by Cllr Mike Sankey.

 

10.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2023

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2023 were presented.

 

Resolved:

 

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2023.

 

 

 

11.

Declarations of Interest

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

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

12.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

Minutes:

The Chairman asked that all phones were switched off or turned to silent mode to minimise any potential disturbances and explained the procedure if a fire alarm were to sound.

 

13.

Public Participation

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 no later than 10 minutes before the start of the meeting. If it is on the day of the meeting registration should be done in person.

 

The rules on public participation in respect of planning applications are linked to in the Council’s Planning Code of Good Practice. 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.

 

Members of the public will have had the opportunity to make representations on the planning applications and to contact and lobby their local member and any other members of the planning committee prior to the meeting. Lobbying once the debate has started at the meeting is not permitted, including the circulation of new information, written or photographic which have not been verified by planning officers.

 

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 5 April 2023 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 7 April 2023. 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:

No questions had been received from councillors or members of the public.

 

The Chairman welcomed all present. He then explained the rules of public participation and the procedure to be followed at the meeting.

 

14.

Planning Appeals and Updates

To receive details of completed and pending appeals and other updates as appropriate.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Planning Appeals Update Report for 6 January 2023 to 31 March 2023 was received.

 

Public Participation:

 

·       Francis Morland noted the date error listed for the appeals report and informed the committee that he wished the recent appeal dismissal decision for housing at land northeast of 150 High Street, Chapmanslade to be submitted by the Council to the planning inspectorate in support of its appeal defence for refusing the housing proposal at Thoulstone Farm. The Development Management Team Leader, Kenny Green confirmed that he would do so.

 

The Development Management Team Leader, Kenny Green further reported that the appeal received for Plot D2, land at Kingdom Avenue, Westbury was expected to be withdrawn as the Section 106 agreement for a subsequent application had now been agreed and was at the time of the committee meeting, pending being signed and sealed by the Council’s legal team.

 

Cllr Stewart Palmen raised concern about the potential for appeals being lodged against enforcement notices after the 28-day deadline had passed. The Development Management Team Leader, Kenny Green advised that the planning inspectorate decide upon the validity of appeals, but it remains the case that the planning inspectorate have a sizeable backlog and the date the LPA is informed of a valid appeal can be several months after it has been submitted to the planning inspectorate, which most likely explained the deadline anomaly.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the Planning Appeals Update Report for 6 January 2023 to 31 March 2023.

 

15.

PL/2022/05120 - Land off Ashton Rise, Hilperton, Trowbridge

The erection of a five-bedroom detached dwelling with attached double garage and associated private garden with vehicular access off Ashton Rise, including the re-routing of an existing footpath.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Steven Sims, Senior Conservation/Planning Officer introduced the report which recommended that planning permission be approved, for reasons detailed in the report, for the erection of a five-bedroom detached dwelling with attached double garage and associated private garden with vehicular access off Ashton Rise, including the re-surfacing of an existing public right of way.

 

The officer advised that the key issues for consideration included, the principle of development/Wiltshire’s 5-year housing land supply, the impact on the living conditions of neighbouring residents, impact on the character on the area/adjacent Conservation Area/public footpath, highway, ecology and drainage issues.

 

The Committee noted that an additional representation had been received after the publication of the agenda about the width of the access and accuracy of the submitted plans. 

 

The Committee noted that the local member, Cllr Ernie Clark, had called-in the application for reasons relating to the scale of development, the relationship to adjacent properties, the design, bulk, height and general appearance, environmental/highway impact, the application site being located outside the village Policy Limits/Settlement Boundary and not being allocated in the adopted Hilperton Neighbourhood Plan, and the positioning of the house on the site, the diversion of the Public Right of Way and its use to access the site, the suitability of the access, and whether the site could be better utilised.  

 

The report summarised the responses to the statutory consultations and the public consultation.

 

In response to technical questions asked by the Committee, the officer explained that the site was a sustainable housing site and the separation distances to neighbouring properties was acceptable.  The Committee was informed that the applicant had amended the application to retain the existing routing of the PRoW and that the Councils PRoW team had no objections subject to a planning informative.  Members were advised to note the recommended planning conditions including condition no. 5 relating to site landscaping. 

 

In response to Member questions, officers advised against imposing a condition removal permitted development rights for the proposed new dwelling as such a condition could not be justified on the necessity test.

 

So that the Committee had something to debate, Cllr Johnathon Seed proposed a motion to approve the application with conditions and informatives as detailed in the report. This was seconded by Cllr Stewart Palmen.

 

A debate followed where Members discussed and requested that an additional planning informative be imposed to inform the applicant to ensure that any vegetation / landscaping does not encroach on the public Right of Way.

 

At the conclusion of the debate, it was

 

Resolved:

 

To defer and delegate to the Head of Development Management to issue the decision following the completion of a S106 legal agreement to grant planning permission, following

 

a)    receipt of written confirmation from Natural England that they are satisfied with the Council’s ecology team conclusion that the development would not result in significant or harmful ecological effects; and

b)    the sealing of a s106 legal agreement covering the matters set out within section 10 of this report; and subject to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

PL/2022/08930 - Bekson Farm, 54 Whaddon Lane, Hilperton, Trowbridge

Revised submission for the retrospective permanent siting of a Biomass boiler with a 6m high flue and container for the control unit (Resubmission of PL/2021/10373)

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Public Participation:

 

                Mrs Holloway – spoke in support of the application

 

David Cox, Senior Planning Officer presented the report that recommended planning permission should be approved subject to the conditions and informatives as detailed in the report, for the revised and retrospective permanent siting of a Biomass boiler with a 6m high flue and container for the control unit (Resubmission of PL/2021/10373)

 

The officer advised that the main issues for consideration and described the site which included detail on the proximity to other properties, the access and the use of the adjoining agricultural fields. He explained that the boiler was powered by burning wooden pallets, which were stored both outside and inside. Members were advised that heat from the boiler is used to dry wood chip which is sold on for biomass boilers to use.

 

Committee members were reminded that the boiler, with a 4m high flue had been given a temporary 2-year planning permission on 10 February 2020, and prior to the temporary permission expiring, the applicant had applied for permanent consent, which was considered by the Committee on 6 July 2022, but had refused permission for the reasons stated in the Committee report.

 

The Committee noted that the local member, Cllr Ernie Clark, had called-in this current application for reasons relating to environmental and highway impacts.

 

The report summarised the responses to the statutory consultations and the public consultation. It was noted that 7 letters of objection and 1 letter of support had been received. In addition, a late representation had been received.

 

In response to technical questions asked by the Committee, the officer explained that Environmental Health Officers would continue to monitor the site on an ad-hoc basis, and it was confirmed that they had visited the site three times in the past month, with no concerns reported. Members were informed that to verify any environmental complaint, neighbours/third parties would be expected to complete a logbook to record any nuisance episodes from the burning of the woodchips, including noting the weather conditions and wind direction.  Members were advised that to date, no substantiated evidence had been submitted to the Council’s public protection team.

 

So that the Committee had something to debate Cllr Stewart Palmen proposed a motion to approve the application with conditions and informatives as detailed in the report. This was seconded by Cllr David Vigar.

 

A debate followed where Members commented further on monitoring by Environmental Health Officers and the submission of a further updated Boiler Management Plan by the applicants.

 

At the conclusion of the debate, it was

 

Resolved:

 

To approve the planning permission subject to the following conditions and informatives:

 

1.    The development hereby approved is subject to the following plans and associated documents:

 

Site Location Plan, Block Plan, Biomass Boiler and Container details (photos), Air Quality Statement (dated December 2019), Cover letter (supporting statement), Biomass details, Biofuel Report, Biomass Manufacturer details and Biomass Boiler Service Record – all received 17 November 2022 and; Management Plan (for the operation of a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

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.