Agenda item

Public Participation

Mr Cassidy spoke in support of the application.

Kenny green, Team Leader, introduced the report which recommended refusal for an erection of a detached building.

The key issues were identified as; the principle of the development, development plan policy conflict, impact on the character of the area, impact on residential amenity, sustainability and highways matters.

Members of the Committee had the opportunity to ask technical questions of the officer. Details were sought on  whether the site would be classed as a brownfield site and whether the site could be supported as an infill opportunity.

The Officer informed Members that the site was not part of a designated settlement and that it was classed as being located in the open countryside and in such locations; the adopted Wiltshire Core Strategy required a planning justification for new housing.  Members were informed that the applicant had recently converted the former Kicking Donkey public house and had taken over its former car park and submitted this application seeking to build a new house for himself arguing in part, that the site was too large for a domestic garden. Members were informed that this was insufficient grounds to justify a grant of planning permission.  Members were also advised that following the conversion of the former pub, the land which is now within residential curtilage is not considered brownfield land.

Members of the public, as detailed above, had the opportunity to speak on the application. 

The local unitary member, Councillor Horace Prickett spoke in support of the application. He gave an outline of the history of the site noting that the development would match the street scene, no consultees had rejected the plans, no one from the community area had objected to the development, that the community had a need for new builds and the village had a desire to reasonably expand.

A motion to move the officers recommendation was moved by the Chairman and seconded by Councillor Trevor Carbin.

A debate followed whereby the adopted policies of the WCS were duly noted.

At the end of the debate it was;

Resolved

To refuse planning permission for the following reasons:

1.    The proposed site is located in the open countryside outside any identified limits of development which has not been allocated for residential development within the Wiltshire Core Strategy (January 2015), a Housing Site Allocations DPD or Neighbourhood Plan. The development fails to satisfy the policy based criteria which support the delivery of additional residential units in the open countryside, and in the absence of a robust planning justification, the proposal is not considered to be a sustainable form of development and is contrary to Core Policies 1, 2, 29, 60 & 61 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy.

2.    The proposed development would constitute as unwarranted encroachment of the open countryside, without any justification. The proposal would lead to the loss of a spatial gap between existing buildings that would introduce an urbanising effect that would harm the rural character and appearance of the area, contrary to Core Policies 1 and 51 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy and Paragraph 17 of the National Planning Policy Framework which seek to preserve the intrinsic character of the countryside.