Agenda item

Erection of two holiday eco lodges.

Public Participation

Richard Cosker spoke in support of the application.

Rachel Clow spoke in support of the application.

Mr and Mrs C.N. Stevens were unable to attend the meeting, therefore Democratic Services Officer Ben Fielding read out a statement that had been provided prior to the meeting in support of the application.

Roger Evans spoke on behalf of North Bradley Parish Council.

Senior Planning Officer, Verity Giles-Franklin, presented the report and recommended that the Committee refuse the application for the erection of two holiday eco lodges.

The committee was advised about the site circumstances being located in the open countryside beyond any defined settlement and not close to any such settlement. The officer advised members about the principle of development and change of the use of the land to a tourist use, as well as the consequential visual and ecology impacts, the impacts to neighbouring amenity and highway matters.

Members of the Committee had the opportunity to ask technical questions regarding the application. Clarification was provided on the lawful use of the land being residential curtilage following the approved conversion of the former public house to a residential property in 2015. The committee was also advised on the lead development plan policies and queries were answered pursuant to the adopted policy regarding infill and directing new tourist development to settlements or close to settlements as set out by Core Policy 39 and the overarching Council’s policy of securing sustainable development. It was also confirmed that the application had no direct association to Brokerswood Country Park.

Additionally, the sustainability principles of the application were discussed in relation to the proposal generating additional traffic, with officers advising members that by virtue of the site’s rural location, the two holiday lets would likely have a heavy reliance placed upon the use of private motor vehicles to gain access to local attractions, which would conflict with Core Policies 60 and 61, to reduce reliance on cars. Clarity was furthermore sought with respect to Core Policy 39 stipulating that new holiday let development in the open countryside should first of one by evidenced that the proposed facilities are in conjunction with a particular countryside attraction, the reasoning being to provide new development in exceptional cases where there is demand and a clear association to an existing use that requires new holiday let accommodation.

Members of the public then had the opportunity to present their views to the Committee as detailed above.

The local Unitary Member, Councillor Horace Prickett then spoke regarding the application. Key points included that the design of the proposed holiday lets would be out of character with other buildings in the area and that the development would have no local services available and would be isolated in the open countryside and would generate more traffic.

A debate then followed which considered the principle of the development along with the associated impacts the proposed development would have to the open countryside, the aesthetics of the proposal was also discussed with the use of steel cladding noted; and the merits of the eco-lodge proposals along with noting the site’s proximity to the national cycle route and the proposed on-site provision of electric charging points. Regard was also given to the Senior Planning Officer’s policy explanation.

A motion to move and accept the officer recommendation was moved by Councillor Ernie Clark and seconded by Councillor Trevor Carbin.

At the conclusion of the debate and following a tied vote, the Chairman’s used his casting vote, and it was 

Resolved:

To refuse the application as per the officer’s recommendation for the following reasons:

1. The subject site is located in open countryside and is not located in or close to a Local Service Centre or Large and Small Village and does not seek to re-use or replace an existing building and on this basis, only in 'exceptional cases' would such tourism accommodation be considered, which this proposal fails to adequately demonstrate, as the proposal fails to satisfy all the necessary criteria contained in CP39; and in particular, the Council is not convinced by the applicants’ submissions that the proposal is justified or is supported by substantive evidence for this proposal to be considered ‘exceptional’. As such, the proposal is not considered to be a sustainable form of development and is considered contrary to Core Policies 1, 2, 39, 60 and 61 of the adopted Wiltshire Core Strategy.

2. The proposed site is located in the open countryside and outside any identified limits of development whereby the proposed siting of two ecolodges to be used for holiday accommodation would constitute an unwarranted and unjustified encroachment of the open countryside, resulting in the loss of a spatial gap between existing buildings and introduce an urbanising effect that would harm the rural character and appearance of the area. As such, the proposal is considered to be contrary to Core Policies 51 and 57 of the adopted Wiltshire Core Strategy.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm and resumed at 5:06 pm.