Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor Placey with Councillor Clifton substituting and Councillor Harris substituted by Councillor McWilliams.

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

Subject to Councillor Codling’s declaration shown in minute 137 being deleted and instead inserted at minute 138 of the previous minutes, it was moved by Councillor Bray and seconded by Councillor Alexander and RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 3 August 2021 be approved, with the stated amendment, as a correct record.

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.

Councillor Baker declared a personal interest in Planning Application A.1 & 2 20/01416/DETAIL and 21/00042/DISCON – Land Northwest of Sladbury’s Lane, Clacton-on-Sea CO15 6NU due to being the Ward Member. He considered that he had a pre-determined view on the application and therefore, left the meeting during the consideration and determination of it. He did not participate in the Committee’s decision.

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.

These applications were originally brought before Planning Committee on 8th June 2021. The application seeks approval of the reserved matters (access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale) relating to outline planning permission 15/01351/OUT, which was allowed at appeal, for the erection of up to 132 dwellings and open space, including provision for a new sports field, new vehicular access and access via Sladbury’s Lane. This application includes details of access, appearance, landscape, layout and scale which were not included as part of the outline application.

The Chairman of the Committee declared that there were no speakers due to the application being formerly deferred.

Councillor Baker had earlier in the meeting declared a personal interest in Planning Application A.1 & 2 20/01416/DETAIL and 21/00042/DISCON – Land Northwest of Sladbury’s Lane, Clacton-on-Sea CO15 6NU due to being the Ward Member. He considered that he had a pre-determined view on the application and therefore, left the meeting during the consideration and determination of it.  He did not participate in the Committee’s decision.

These applications were originally brought before Planning Committee on 8th June 2021.

The applications were deferred on the following grounds:

• To seek amendments to the layout to ensure that all dwellings comply with the Council’s adopted minimum Private Amenity Standards.
• To seek amendment to ensure that the affordable housing is in clusters of no more than 10 units.
• To provide clarification on Housing Standards in terms of Accessibility and Adaptability.
• To seek further clarification from Essex County Council SUDS and the Environment Agency on surface water drainage and flood risk issues.

It was requested that this application be referred to Committee for a decision by Cllr. Stephenson for the following reasons:

• Several garden sizes amongst the many plots did not comply with Policy in that they were too small.
• Only 1 bungalow was to be made wheelchair adaptable – a request was made by the Councillor that it should be all of the proposed bungalows.
• The SUDs report did not mitigate for the flood risk that was possible.

Members were reminded that the site was on the north-eastern edge of Clacton, it was divided into two fields by a line of trees and existing vegetation. To the north of the site beyond an agricultural field was the Colchester to Clacton railway line. To the east and south of site were the residential properties of Sladbury’s Lane and the Happy Valley Bowls and Tennis Club.

The current application sought approval of the reserved matters (access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale) relating to outline planning permission 15/01351/OUT, which was allowed at appeal, for the erection of up to 132 dwellings and open space, including provision for a new sports field, new vehicular access and access via Sladbury’s Lane. This application included details of access, appearance, landscape, layout and scale which were not included as part of the outline application.

As established through the granting of outline application 15/01351/OUT, at appeal, the principle of residential development for up to 132 dwellings on this site was acceptable. The appeal decision also dealt with matters of impact on protected species, biodiversity and flood risk.

Members were informed that the detailed design, layout, access, landscaping and scale were considered acceptable. The proposal would result in no material harm to residential amenity or highway safety.

The flood risk details submitted in the form of a Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) Design and Management Report were sufficient to discharge condition No. 10 (Surface Water) of Planning Application 15/01351/OUT approved on appeal APP/P1560/W/17/3169220.

The Committee had before  ...  view the full minutes text for item 143.

This application has been referred to Planning Committee at the request of Councillor Davidson due to concerns relating to; the design and street scene impact, impact on the neighbours, highway safety, general safety due to proximity to the Oil Refinery and parking concerns.

The site lies within the defined Settlement Development Boundary of the existing and emerging local plans.

Members were made aware prior to the Committee meeting that this application was referred to Planning Committee at the request of Councillor Davidson due to concerns relating to; the design and street scene impact, impact on the neighbours, highway safety, general safety due to proximity to the Oil Refinery and parking concerns.

The site was within the defined Settlement Development Boundary of the existing and emerging local plans.

In 2013 Planning permission (11/01172/OUT) was refused for the construction of 30 houses and associated parking, access and landscaping works. The reasons for refusal were due to the proximity to Carless Refinery and the increase in vehicular traffic along both Edward Street and Una Road. This decision was appealed; the appeal was allowed and planning permission granted. However, this approval was never implemented.

In 2015 the application site obtained a further outline planning approval for 30 dwellings, via application (Ref: 15/01792/OUT), the associated Reserve Matters approval was issued via application (Ref: 19/00406/DETAIL). Further to this, the site to the immediate north, for which the applicant was also the freeholder, had planning permission for 12 dwellings via (Ref: 16/02128/OUT) and approved Reserve Matters via (Ref 20/00460/DETAIL).

Members were informed that this application involved the construction of thirty houses and associated parking, access and landscaping. This application sought to modify the existing planning consent (19/00406/DETAIL) in terms of layout to comply with Essex Highways Technical Standards.

For the reasons outlined in this report, Officers considered the scheme before members, subject to planning conditions, to be an acceptable development proposal as it was in accordance with the relevant policies in the development plan, as well as emerging policies in section 2 of the emerging Local Plan, and on a site that had recent planning history approval for a similar number of dwellings.

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

In conclusion, the proposed development would not result in any harmful impact upon visual amenity or neighbouring amenities and provides appropriately designed additional housing and sufficient additional parking spaces to serve the proposed units.

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.

The case officer referred the planning committee to the update sheet previously circulated as follows:

(1)  Anglican Water’s Response

Anglican Water had confirmed the site contained no assets owned by Anglian Water or those subject to an adoption agreement within the development site boundary. This included surrounding dwelling 75 Una Road in the south west corner, neighbouring the host site.

(2)  Additional informatives recommended to be added to the decision recommendation, with the exception of Informative 3 that Angilan Water had confirmed in an email dated 1 September 2021 was not relevant in this case.

(3)  Essex Ecology Statement

The Ecological Statement (Abrehart Ecology, November 2020) validated the findings of the previous suite  ...  view the full minutes text for item 144.