Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting to be held in accordance with provisions of SI 2020/392. Link to live stream will be found here: https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/livemeetings

Contact: Emma Haward Email:  democraticservices@tendringdc.gov.uk or Telephone:  01255686007

Items
No. Item

43.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Bray (Vice-Chairman).

 

44.

Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 228 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on Wednesday, 2 September 2020.

Minutes:

It was noted on item A.1 Planning Application 19/00188/FUL - LOWER FARM EAST END GREEN, BRIGHTLINGSEA COLCHESTER CO7 0SX that Councillor Cawthron voted against the application.

 

It was moved by Councillor Cawthron and seconded by Councillor Codling and RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Wednesday, 2 September 2020 be approved as a correct record.

 

45.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

Councillor White declared a personal interest in item A.1 CARAVAN/CHALET SITES OCCUPANCY RESTRICTION due to being the Ward Member. He was not pre-determined.

 

46.

Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

Minutes:

There were none on this occasion.

 

47.

A.1 Caravan/Chalet Sites Occupancy Restriction pdf icon PDF 142 KB

To update the Planning Committee on caravan and chalet sites occupancy including the result of planning and enforcement appeals as to planning breaches relating to occupancy conditions in Point Clear Bay and to secure support to progress further enforcement action.

Minutes:

Councillor White declared a personal interest in item A.1 CARAVAN/CHALET SITES OCCUPANCY RESTRICTION due to being the Ward Member. He was not pre-determined.

 

Cabinet received a report on 13th December 2013, which outlined the outcome of an initial review of seasonal occupancy restrictions on holiday parks/homes across the district.  Cabinet supported an on-going review and made recommendations as to its progress. 

 

Cabinet received an update at its meeting in June 2014 on each of its previous recommendations including

• liaison with the Environment Agency to understand flood risk issues on a site by site basis;

• working with the sites’ owners and operators and individuals affected to improve emergency planning procedures;

• analysis of appeal decisions; and

• monitoring of compliance with conditions on sites in Tendring district.

 

Decisions relating to planning enforcement come within the terms of reference of the Planning Committee and subsequently, a further report was presented to the Committee on 2 February 2016 detailing the outcome of the review at that time.  The Planning Committee resolved that it:

 

1. Notes the outcome of the review, including the monitoring of sites and the potential breaches of planning controls that have been identified;

2. Supports the principle of seeking voluntary compliance with planning controls relating to holiday caravan and chalet occupancy, and where this is not successful to serve Planning Enforcement Notices, giving priority to breaches at Point Clear Bay, Clear Springs and Bel Air; and

3. Receives an update report in relation to this enforcement action early in 2017.

 

In accordance with this decision, work has continued and this report provides updates on:

• Action taken to resolve breaches at Clear Springs, Point Clear Bay and Bel Air through voluntary compliance;

• Formal action taken at Clear Springs and Point Clear including the outcomes of appeals against enforcement notices.

 

And the report seeks agreement to:

 

• Undertake further monitoring of compliance at caravan and chalet sites.

 

An update sheet had been circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting with details of:

 

(1)  Report of the Assistant Director Planning - To update the Planning Committee on caravan and chalet sites occupancy including the result of planning and enforcement appeals as to planning breaches relating to occupancy conditions in Point Clear Bay and to secure support to progress further enforcement action.

 

At the meeting, an oral presentation was made by the Council’s Assistant Director, Planning (GN) in respect of the application.

 

Following discussion by the Committee, it was moved by Councillor Alexander, seconded by Councillor Placey and RESOLVED, that the report be agreed subject to the below recommendations:

 

Recommendations:

1. Notes the contents of this report, and the action taken to date;

2. Requires the Assistant Director Planning to formally write to each of the Appellants for Point Clear proceedings, as soon as possible to confirm the outcome of their appeal and where compliance with the Enforcement Notice is still required, the date by which this takes effect; and

3. Supports the carrying out of further planning enforcement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

A.2 PLANNING APPLICATION - 20/00239/FUL - GROUND FLOOR, 1 LANSWOOD PARK, BROOMFIELD ROAD, ELMSTEAD, COLCHESTER pdf icon PDF 435 KB

This application is referred to Planning Committee as it represents a departure from the adopted Tendring District Local Plan, proposing housing outside of any settlement development boundary in both the saved and emerging Local Plans.

 

This is a hybrid application which seeks outline planning permission (access included with appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved for later consideration) for up to 10,000 square metres of employment floor space within use classes B1 (business), B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution); and 14 houses. Full planning permission is sought for 71 houses.

Minutes:

This application was referred to Planning Committee as it represented a departure from the adopted Tendring District Local Plan, proposing housing outside of any settlement development boundary in both the saved and emerging Local Plans.

 

This was a hybrid application which sought outline planning permission (access included with appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved for later consideration) for up to 10,000 square metres of employment floor space within use classes B1 (business), B2 (general industrial) and B8 (storage and distribution); and 14 houses. Full planning permission was sought for 71 houses.

 

The application was originally submitted for a total of 72 dwellings and was increased to a total of 85 dwellings in late July, the proposed employment floor space remains unchanged. This change was subject to reconsultation with necessary consultees and neighbours which has now expired. The number of dwellings was increased in order to provide the £430,000 to fund a 3G artificial grass pitch on Charity Field. The Supplementary Planning Document supporting saved Policy COM6 confirmed the open space contribution in this case amounted to £205,024.00.  In addition to this, the applicant was offering an additional contribution of £224,976.00 which combined with the above open space contribution would provide the full cost of providing the 3G artificial grass pitch. This was a departure from saved Policy COM6 and was offered by the applicant in acknowledgement of the scale of the proposed development and its impact upon the Parish of Elmstead Market.

 

The proposal sought to use the 71 dwellings seeking full planning permission to “enable” the expansion of the existing Lanswood Business Park due to infrastructure servicing the site reaching capacity as acknowledged in the supporting text to Draft Policy SAE3 (Lanswood Park). The viability of the proposal had been independently assessed and confirmed that the proposal could not provide the £955,835.20 requested by Essex County Council Education or the 26 affordable dwellings. In terms of S106 contributions the applicant offered £430,000 to fund a 3G artificial grass pitch on Charity Field (£205,024 open space contribution and additional contribution of £224,976.00); the required RAMS contribution of £10,674.30 (£125.58 per dwelling); and £50,000 towards the upgrade of the traffic signals and introduction of MOVA (movement sensor traffic light signals) for the A133 Clacton Road junction with Bromley Road.

 

The report confirmed that this was a sustainable location for development and the significant economic benefits of the proposal in providing up to 10,000 square metres of employment floor space, estimated to provide around 600 jobs, were considered to outweigh the modest landscape harm in this context of mixed residential and commercial development.  The proposal did not provide the required contributions towards affordable housing or education on the grounds of viability and this was clearly a negative factor in terms of social sustainability and needed to be balanced against the significant economic benefits of the proposal. Officers were of the opinion that the economic benefits of the proposal, and the viability evidence provided, had overridden the absence of contributions towards education and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

49.

A.3 PLANNING APPLICATION - 20/00480/DETAIL - LAND EAST OF BROMLEY ROAD, LAWFORD, CO11 2HS pdf icon PDF 316 KB

Outline planning permission (all matters apart from access - reserved) was granted on 13th April 2017 for a mixed development of 360 houses and community facilities/open space on 22.76ha of land to the south of Lawford, under 15/00876/OUT. The current submission relates to phase 3 of the development, and is for the outstanding reserved matters.

 

In accordance with Members’ request, the current submission has been brought to Planning Committee seeking consent with regard to the reserved matters of landscaping, layout, appearance and scale.

Minutes:

Outline planning permission (all matters apart from access - reserved) was granted on 13th April 2017 for a mixed development of 360 houses and community facilities/open space on 22.76ha of land to the south of Lawford, under 15/00876/OUT. The current submission relates to phase 3 of the development, and is for the outstanding reserved matters.

 

In accordance with Members’ request, the current submission was brought to Planning Committee seeking consent with regard to the reserved matters of landscaping, layout, appearance and scale.

 

The site lied outside the defined settlement boundary of the saved Local Plan but within the settlement boundary of the emerging Local Plan. The principle of residential development had been accepted by the granting of outline planning permission, which also established the position of the access.

 

The site – being the eastern third of the outline permission - was accessed from Long Road with 32 dwellings north of the estate road and 68 dwellings to the south. The scheme retained the substantial hedge to the eastern boundary and to the south adjacent to Dead Lane.

 

The detailed plans complied with the outline requirements, and the usual design parameters (garden sizes, distance between dwellings and level of parking) and the reserved matters were considered acceptable with no material harm to visual or residential amenity, or highway safety.

 

A legal agreement was required for this application to secure a financial contribution towards Essex Coast Recreational Disturbance and Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy (RAMS).

 

The Committee had before it the published Officer report containing the key planning issues, relevant planning policies, planning history, any response from consultees, written representations received and a recommendation of approval.

 

An update sheet had been circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting with details of:

 

(1)  Reserved matters application with details of appearance, landscaping, layout and scale pursuant to Phase 3 of outline permission (15/00876/OUT) including 100 dwellings, associated hardstanding, boundary treatments, landscaping and drainage.

 

Phase 3, Land east of Bromley Road Lawford

 

Report Update

 

  • Para 6.7 - There has been a more recent planning application at the adjacent site known as the ‘City and Country Site’ (17/01181/OUT) for 485 units (not 300) this has been approved at appeal.

 

  • Para 6.25 and 6.27. The “Grace” and “Amber” were both used in Phase 2 already. The “Ruben” (Flat over the garage) is the only new dwelling type. There are 2 five bedroom properties included in the overall total as stated in Para 6.16.

 

  • Para 6.62 - The applicants Design and Access Statement (Ref 6.2) states the public open space is 10%. The applicant has updated the LPA with a figure of 10.9% being achieved on site.

 

Conditions Update

 

1)         Consultees – Essex Wildlife Trust (Late Request)

 

The Trust has requested an additional condition in relation to provision of integral nesting habitat for Swifts and other bird species such as House Sparrows. EWT states ‘Swift conservation is of the utmost importance and integral nesting habitat is a relatively cheap and simple enhancement for developers to implement’. Importantly,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

50.

A.4 PLANNING APPLICATION - 20/00473/OUT - LAND ADJACENT 25 DOVER ROAD, BRIGHTLINGSEA, CO7 0PS pdf icon PDF 229 KB

This application is before Members as the application is being made by Tendring District Council.

 

The application seeks outline planning permission with all matters reserved for the erection of 1 detached dwelling.

Minutes:

This application is before Members as the application was made by Tendring District Council.

 

The application related to a parcel of land approximately 0.03 hectares in size located to the land adjacent to number 25 Dover Road, Brightlingsea.

 

The application sought outline planning permission with all matters reserved for the erection of 1 detached dwelling.

 

On the 18th January 2019 it was corporately agreed by the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Resources to initiate the process to dispose of the land and to explore the opportunity to develop the land asset for 1 dwelling in order to support local housing provision. This disposal was part of the Council’s land rationalisation project.

 

The site lied within the Brightlingsea Settlement Development Boundary as defined within both the adopted Tendring District Local Plan 2007 and the emerging Tendring District Local Plan 2013-2033 and Beyond Publication Draft 2017. As such the principle of siting 1 dwelling on this land was acceptable subject to the detailed considerations.

 

The site was not safeguarded open space within either the adopted or emerging Local Plans and was surrounded by existing housing; the site had limited visual amenity value being devoid of any soft landscaping; and the site had limited recreational value lacking any street furniture. The amenity and recreational value of the land was therefore limited and its re-development for 1 dwelling was not considered to result in any significant harm.

 

The plot size was considered sufficient to accommodate 1 dwelling in a manner which would not result in a cramped development providing sufficient private amenity space and parking for both dwellings, as demonstrated by the accompanying indicative layout plan. The proposed development would appear in keeping with the existing pattern of development and would not result in any significant harm to the character of the area.

 

The application was accompanied by a completed unilateral undertaking securing the financial contribution toward recreational disturbance in accordance with the Essex coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy and a financial contribution towards public open space.

 

Officers consider that sufficient space was available on site to provide a development that, through the submission of a reserved matters application, could achieve a development that would not detract from the character of the area or harm residential amenities. The application was therefore recommended for approval.

 

The Committee had before it the published Officer report containing the key planning issues, relevant planning policies, planning history, any response from consultees, written representations received and a recommendation of approval.

 

At the meeting, an oral presentation was made by the Council’s Acting Planning Manager (TF) in respect of the application.

 

Following discussion by the Committee, it was moved by Councillor Harris, seconded by Councillor Casey and unanimously RESOLVED:-

 

that; the  Assistant Director (Planning) (or equivalent authorised officer) be authorised to grant planning permission for the development, subject to:

 

Conditions and Reasons:

 

1.    Application for the approval of Reserved Matters must be submitted before the expiration of three years from the date of this permission.

                                               

Reason -  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

51.

Exemption of Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider the following resolution:

 

 “That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 10 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.”

52.

Land to the North of St Johns Road Clacton on Sea Public Inquiry - Legal Advice Update

This matter is brought before the Planning Committee, as an urgent item, in order to meet the Planning Appeal timetable relating to the current Public Inquiry pertaining to the refusal of application 18/01779/FUL - Land to the North of St Johns Road, Clacton on Sea (St Johns Road Nursery). Appeal Reference 20/00051/REFUSE.

Minutes:

This matter was brought before the Planning Committee, as an urgent item, in order to meet the Planning Appeal timetable relating to the current Public Inquiry pertaining to the refusal of application 18/01779/FUL - Land to the North of St Johns Road, Clacton on Sea (St Johns Road Nursery).  

 

The reasons for bringing this item before the Committee were approved by the Planning Committee Chairman.

 

The Committee was asked to consider the following resolution:

 

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be

excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 10 on the grounds that it

involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 5 of Part 1 of

Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.”

 

Following discussion by the Committee, it was moved by Councillor Alexander, seconded by Councillor Codling and RESOLVED that the public be exempt from this item.

 

At the meeting, an oral presentation was made by the Council’s Assistant Director of Planning  (GN) in respect of the application.

 

Robin Green, the Barrister associated with this case, participated in the meeting.

 

A summary of the legal advice was received providing the following recommendation in respect for each reason for refusal:

 

i)              The first reason for refusal, on grounds that the proposed development was out of character with its surroundings, it was considered defendable.

 

ii)             The second reason for refusal related to highway safety.   It was considered that he Highways reasons would not be defendable unless the Council could specifically identify shortcomings in the applicant’s Transport Assessment or road safety audit.  As noted from the original committee report, the findings and solutions set out within the reports were considered and supported by Essex County Council Highways.  

 

Following submission of the appeal the Council appointed an external highways consultant to appraise these documents and the proposed highway arrangements. It was their professional opinion that there was no positive evidence to show that the proposed access was unsafe or contrary to highway design standards, or that traffic from the appeal site, in conjunction with traffic from the Rouses Farm development, would have a significant impact on the highway network.   Although additional evidence in relation to visibility splay length may be required in terms of evidence this had not been raised as an objection by the Highway Authority.  

 

There was a ‘possible’ deficiency in the modelling of the interaction between traffic queuing on St Johns Road to gain access to Rouses Farm and the operation of the proposed access in to the appeal site.  The Councils highway consultant however did not consider that based on the evidence supplied there was likely to be an issue.

 

In summary the legal advice suggests that the second refusal reason on highway grounds was not supported by evidence and the Council was at risk of costs should that reason be pursued  

 

iii)           Refusal reason 3 related to the loss of privacy between existing residents fronting St Johns Road and the proposed development.   As noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.