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Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Roger Bishton  Senior Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

17.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Terry Chivers (who was substituted by Cllr Dennis Drewett), Cllr Stewart Dobson and Cllr Fred Westmoreland.

18.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2015.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 February 2015 as a correct record.  

 

 

19.

Declarations of Interest

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

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

20.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

21.

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 10.20am 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 (acting on behalf of the Corporate Director) no later than 5pm on Wednesday 4 March 2015. 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:

There were no questions received from members of the Council.

 

Members of the public addressed the Committee as set out in Minute Nos. 22 and 23 below.

22.

14/10556/FUL - Land at west side of B3092, Mapperton Hill, Mere, BA12 6LH - Change of use of land to 1 No. Romani Gypsy pitch & associated works including 1 No. mobile home, 1 No. day room, 1 No. touring caravan, 1 No. septic tank, stables, hard standing, new access and keeping of horses

A report by the Case Officer is attached.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The following people spoke against the proposal:

 

Mr Quentin Skinner, a local resident

Mr Colin Liddell, a local resident

Mr Richard Branscombe, a local resident

Cllr Lesley Traves, Chairman of Mere Parish Council

 

The Committee received a presentation by the Case Officer which set out the main issues in respect of the application.  The report was introduced which recommended that permission be granted subject to conditions.

 

Members of the Committee then had the opportunity to ask technical questions after which the Committee received statements from members of the public as detailed above, expressing their views regarding the planning application.

 

Cllr George Jeans, the local Member expressed some concerns regarding this application, particularly about drainage problems at the site bearing in mind that the land was often waterlogged. He suggested that the proposal be deferred to enable the Drainage Engineer to prepare a report explaining how this issue could be addressed.   He also expressed concern that the Highways Officer was not present to explain how he concluded that after visiting the site, he raised no Highway objection to the proposed development, subject to conditions in respect of the provision of appropriate visibility splays, consolidation and grading of the new access and that any gates should be set back and open inwards.

 

During the subsequent discussion, a fellow Highways Engineer attended and explained that his colleague had recently visited the site and concluded that judging from the speed of vehicles using Road B3092, there were no highway objections to the proposal, provided that adequate visibility splays were provided.

 

Members of the Committee noted that the application site was often waterlogged and expressed serious concern regarding the drainage.

 

After further discussion,

 

Resolved:

 

To defer consideration of the applicationin order to seek further information from the Drainage Engineer on the practicalities of drainage of the site and to request that copies of the Planning Inspector’s decision regarding a similar application at Alderbury be provided.

    

 

 

23.

14/09262/OUT - Land north of Bitham Park, Trowbridge Road, Westbury - Proposed development of up to 300 dwellings; Creation of new roundabout access from Trowbridge Road; Creation of a new emergency/cycle and pedestrian access from Coach Road; Open Space; Drainage Works and ancillary works

A report by the Case Officer is attached.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The following person spoke against the proposal:

 

Mr Francis Morland, a local resident

 

The following person spoke in support of the proposal:

 

Mr John Hall, the agent

 

The Committee received a presentation by the Case Officer which set out the main issues in respect of the application.  The report was introduced which recommended that planning permission be refused.

 

Members of the Committee then had the opportunity to ask technical questions after which the Committee received statements from members of the public as detailed above, expressing their views regarding the planning application.

 

Cllr David Jenkins, as a local Member, expressed certain concerns on highway grounds.

 

After some discussion,

 

Resolved:

 

To refuse planning permission for the following reasons:

 

1)     The site is located in open countryside outside the limits of development defined for Westbury in the Wiltshire Core Strategy. The proposal would conflict with Core Policy 1, Core Policy 2 and Core Policy 32 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy which seeks to properly plan for sustainable development of housing in Wiltshire. Furthermore, by isolating and enclosing land to the south-west and south-east of the site, the proposal would inevitably result in further development pressure that would lead to significant upward levels of demand for development. 

 

2)     The proposal conflicts with the Council’s plan-led approach to the delivery of new housing sites outside of the identified limits of development, as set out in Core Policy 2 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy which seeks to provide new housing sites to deliver the identified needs in a community area through a Site Allocation DPD and/or a Neighbourhood Plan. This strategy is supported by the Wiltshire Core Strategy Inspector and the Secretary of State in several appeal decisions and the site has not been brought forward through either of these processes. 

 

3)     The proposed development is not in accordance with Core Policy 62 which seeks to restrict new direct accesses onto the national primary route network. The proposal would consequently result in adverse impacts on the free flow of traffic on the primary route and additional risks to highway safety.

 

4)     The developer has failed to agree and submit a Unilateral Undertaking or to enter into a Section 106 Legal Agreement or agree for a viability assessment to be undertaken. The proposal therefore does not provide for the delivery of the necessary infrastructure required to mitigate the direct impacts of the development and fails to comply with Core Policy 3 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy Regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 and Paragraph 204 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

 

5)     The proposal would have an adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area by significantly expanding the built-up area of the settlement into the surrounding rural landscape. This would be highly visible, particularly from viewpoints to the south and south-east, and would conflict with a core principle of the NPPF to take account of the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside and with policy CP51 of the Wiltshire Core  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Date of the Next Meeting

To note that the next meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday 22 April 2015 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To note that the next meeting was scheduled to be held on Wednesday 22 April 2015, at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 11.00am in view of a preceding site visit.

25.

Urgent Items

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items of business.

 

 

 

 

 

(Duration of meeting:  10.30 am - 12.00 pm)

 

The Officer who has produced these minutes is Roger Bishton, of Democratic & Members’ Services, direct line 01225 713035, e-mail roger.bishton@wiltshire.gov.uk

 

Press enquiries to Communications, direct line (01225) 713114/713115