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

Apologies were received from Councillor Wiggins, with no substitution.

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 V Guglielmi declared a personal interest in Planning Application A.1 20/00594/FUL – LAND ADJOINING IPSWICH ROAD AND WICK LANE ARDLEIGH CO7 7QL due to knowing the tenant farmer of site of the application. She stated that she was not pre-determined and that she would therefore participate in the Committee’s deliberations and decision making for this application.

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.

The application proposes a large warehouse to be used as a food storage and distribution facility, with a height of between 16-20m, and a depth of up to 170m set in an extensive area of proposed hard standing. New access arrangements are proposed from Old Ipswich Road, including car parking as well as a large vehicle yard to the rear (south-east of the proposed warehouse building) with facilities for vehicle washing and refuelling. The proposal also includes provision for a large attenuation pond for managing surface flows.

Councillor V Guglielmi had earlier declared a personal interest in respect of this planning application for the reasons set out in Minute 41 above.

It was reported that this  application proposed a large warehouse to be used as a food storage and distribution facility, with a height of between 16-20m, and a depth of up to 170m set in an extensive area of proposed hard standing. New access arrangements were proposed from Old Ipswich Road, Ardleigh including car parking as well as a large vehicle yard to the rear (south-east of the proposed warehouse building) with facilities for vehicle washing and re-fuelling. The proposal also included provision for a large attenuation pond for managing surface water flows.

The Committee was informed that a clear policy conflict had been identified in terms of the landscape harm, and the harmful impact of the ‘in depth’ part of the warehouse and HGV hardstanding area on the character and appearance of Wick Lane, Ardleigh and the immediate hinterland to the east of the site, as well as the impact of the large warehouse on residential amenity by way of light pollution and being overbearing in nature to nearby residents, especially those residents to the north west and east of the site. Those harmful elements weighed significantly against the development proposal. The proposal would also result in the loss of agricultural land and as a result there was a conflict with Paragraph 174 a) of the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 (‘the Framework’).

Against this harm the benefits to the local and wider economy, the benefits to the food distribution sector in particular, and direct and indirect job retention/creation would  be substantial, and very significant weight  had been attributed to those benefits by Officers.

Members were advised that all other material planning considerations had been taken into account and where relevant, where harm arose, those could be mitigated against by way of planning conditions or  Section 106 obligations, so therefore all those elements were neutral in  terms of ‘planning balance’.

The Committee was made aware that, ultimately, the weight given to the substantial benefits, as outlined in the written report, was considered by Officers to very marginally outweigh the significant weight given to the landscape and character harm, as well as the identified harm to residential amenity. For those reasons, it was recommended by Officers that planning permission be granted, subject to the completed Section 106 legal agreement and the conditions as recommended in  the Officer report.

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 subject to conditions.

At the meeting, an oral presentation was made by the Council’s Planning Team Leader (JJ) in respect of the application.

An update sheet had been circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting with details of Ardleigh Parish Council’s submission of their Regulation 14 Pre-Submission draft Neighbourhood Plan, a further letter of objection and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.