The Leader of the Council (Councillor Stock OBE) has recently appointed Councillor Jeff Bray to serve on the Cabinet as the Planning Portfolio Holder and, as a consequence of that appointment, Councillor Bray has ceased to be a member of the Planning and its Vice-Chairman.

The Planning Committee is therefore required to fill this vacancy by electing a successor Vice-Chairman for the remainder of the 2022/2023 Municipal Year.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Stock OBE) had recently appointed Councillor Jeff Bray to serve on the Cabinet as the Planning Portfolio Holder and, as a consequence of that appointment, Councillor Bray had ceased to be both a member of the Planning Committee and its Vice-Chairman. The Planning Committee was therefore required, under Council Procedure Rule 33.5, to fill this vacancy by electing a successor Vice-Chairman for the remainder of the 2022/2023 Municipal Year.

It was moved by Councillor Baker and seconded by Councillor Allen that Councillor Fowler be elected Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee for the remainder of the 2022/2023 Municipal Year.

It was then moved by Councillor Harris and seconded by Councillor Codling that Councillor Alexander be elected Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee for the remainder of the 2022/2023 Municipal Year.

On being put to the vote it was:-

RESOLVED – that Councillor Fowler be elected Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee for the remainder of the 2022/2023 Municipal Year.

Councillor Alexander then graciously congratulated Councillor Fowler on her successful election.

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

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Placey, (substituted by Councillor Allen) and Councillor V Guglielmi, (substituted by Councillor McWilliams).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 10 May 2022.

It was moved by Councillor Alexander, seconded by Councillor Codling and RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 10 May 2022 be approved as a correct record, subject to it being clarified in the list of Committee members present that Councillor Baker had been absent for items 9 & 10.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

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.

There were none on this occasion.

Outline application (all matters reserved except means of access) for the redevelopment (including demolition) of the site for up to 950 residential units (including affordable housing) with a new Neighbourhood Centre comprising a local healthcare facility of up to 1500sqm NIA and up to 700sqm GFA for use classes A1 (shops), A3 (food and drink) and/or D1 (community centre); a 2.1ha site for a new primary school; and associated roads, open space, drainage, landscaping and other associated infrastructure.

There were no declarations of interest for this application.

The Committee was reminded that the application site known as ‘Rouses Farm’ comprised 42 hectares of predominantly agricultural land on the western side of Clacton on Sea and north of Jaywick. This land  had been allocated for a major residential and mixed-use development in the Council’s adopted Local Plan and outline planning permission was now being sought for up to 950 residential units; a new Neighbourhood Centre comprising a local healthcare facility and units for shops, food and drink and/or a community centre; a 2.1ha site for a new primary school; and associated roads, open space, drainage, landscaping and other associated infrastructure.

Members were  aware that the site  had been allocated through Adopted Local Plan Policy SAMU4 for a mix of residential development of use to 950 new homes; community facilities including a new two-form entry primary school and public open space. The proposal, the subject of the outline application,  had been aligned with that allocation description. Officers had worked positively with the applicants to resolve all technical planning issues with a view to bringing the application to this  meeting with a recommendation of approval.

It was therefore reported that this was an application for outline planning permission with all matters reserved with the exception of access. Other matters  such as appearance, landscaping, layout and scale were reserved for approval at a later date and therefore this application sought only to establish the principle of residential and mixed-use development of this allocated site, and the arrangements for access. The applicant had provided details of how they proposed to access the site off St. John’s Road and Jaywick Lane and the Highway Authority, having modelled the impacts of this development on the highway network as part of the Local Plan process, had had no objections, in principle, to the proposed arrangements, subject to conditions requiring the approval of further details and certain off-site highway improvements.

The Committee  was reminded that  permission for the proposed development  had previously been given at  its meeting held in May 2018, subject to within 6 months of  that resolution that a Section 106 agreement had been signed. However, this agreement had taken significantly longer than anticipated, primarily due to the complexity of resolving a number of legal matters with the various landowners.

In addition to the above, the Outline Permission had required the use of third party land to provide Off-Site Bird Mitigation , which had also required agreement with landowners and a licence before the Section 106 Agreement could be agreed.

It was noted that the Section 106 Agreement was now ready for signature. However, given the length of time that had elapsed  since the original Planning Committee resolution and following legal advice, it  had been necessary for the application to revert back to Members for consideration and a fresh decision.  The Officer report now before the Committee  highlighted those areas where there had been a shift in the policy landscape since May 2018 which warranted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Outline planning application for 220 Self-Build and Custom-Build dwellings, including 67 Affordable dwellings, with accesses off London Road.

There were no declarations of interest for this application.

The Committee was informed that this application had been referred to it  at the request of the Acting Director of Planning.

Members  were advised that the application site comprised two parcels of land, of approximately 10.6 hectares (combined), which were situated immediately to the south and west of the B1441 London Road, on the northern edge of Clacton-on-Sea. The land parcels were subdivided by a farm track which provided access to an arable field to the south which was within separate ownership. The A133 lay adjacent to the western boundary of parcel 1.

Overall, the site consisted of two former horticultural nurseries (including a dwelling at Langford Nursery); a dwelling known as Little Ditches within the north eastern corner of the site;  woodland, orchard, grassland and scrub land that had regenerated naturally over time; as well as a redundant builder’s yard towards the eastern side of the site. The land in question was predominantly green and essentially rural in its nature, with a mix of uses within the area typical of its urban fringe location, but provided an important role in keeping Clacton separate from the village of Little Clacton.

It was reported that this  was an outline planning application, with access and layout to be determined at this stage. All other matters (appearance, scale and landscaping) were reserved for future determination.

The Committee was reminded that the application  had originally been submitted for 220 Dwellings, including 20 Affordable Homes and 21 Self-Build Plots. This  had been revised in spring 2020, and had removed the Montana Nurseries site from the northern end of the site, with associated amendments to its access, and changed the description of the proposed development to entirely self-build and custom homes, including 67 affordable homes.

Members were informed that there would be two access points into the development site, one for each parcel, and the layout as identified on the submitted plans showed a series of loop roads and cul-de-sacs proposed, with building forms being mainly detached.

It was noted that the existing trees and vegetation to the perimeter of the parcels would  largely be retained, along with a number of trees within the development zones. An ecological buffer adjacent to Picker’s Ditch would  be maintained, denoted as an ‘Enhanced Ecology Zone’ on the layout drawing, along with two woodland areas.

The Committee was advised that, as set out within Paragraph 47 of the NPPF, planning law required that applications for planning permission be determined in accordance with the Development Plan, unless material considerations indicated otherwise. In this case the application site was located outside of a designated settlement development boundary. The site fell within the area of countryside which separated Clacton from Little Clacton, and was designated as Green Gap.  Adopted Local Plan Policy PPL6 stated that Strategic Green Gaps, as shown on the Policies Maps and Local Maps, would be protected in order to retain the separate identity and prevent coalescence of settlements. Any development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.