Agenda and minutes

“Good evening to my fellow Members, Officers and members of the public. This is the 16^th and final meeting of the PP&LPC for this Council term. We have before us four more CA Character Appraisals and Management Plans. It is unfortunate that the remaining three (out of the overall total of 20) will have to wait until the next Council term. I always like to leave a clean slate for my successors.

In the last four years we have read 4,201 pages of agendas, taken our Draft District Plan in two parts through the Full Council twice, achieving unanimity across six different political groupings on all occasions and come out of all of this smelling of roses. We have a Local Plan to be proud of. It is holding up under close scrutiny from the Planning Inspectorate and very few Appeals are allowed. This is something this Committee can be immensely proud of. I thank all present and past Committee Members.

Of course, none of this would have been achieved if we had not had Mr. Guiver, our Director (Planning) and his very able team guiding, debating and suggesting to us the best policies for this Council. Helping Mr Guiver and his Team and this Committee to be legally compliant and follow due process has been our Deputy Chief Executive, Mrs Hastings, and Mr. Ford, who has faithfully minuted our wise words and recommendations! I thank you all. Four years well spent.

Not everything is sweetness and light though. The Local Plan is, as it states, the plan by which to judge the 2,300+ applications the Authority receives each year and make decisions thereupon. I only read the applications and decisions for the Town Council area of Frinton & Walton. Having spoken with the Portfolio Holder for Planning (Councillor Jeff Bray), his concerns District wide are similar to mine. I have raised these concerns with Mr. Guiver. The Local Plan is, or appears to be, not fully understood and interpreted as Members would and have been led to believe it should be. I have come across decisions made that I do not understand or comprehend. This applies to both the Planning Committee and the weekly decision list. As this is our last meeting of this Council term and all we do is advise the Planning Portfolio Holder, I thought it best to raise my concerns and any further concerns this Committee may have, ready for the next Council.”

Members of the Committee raised the importance of preserving the views and setting of ancient and scheduled monuments and other buildings of historic importance in the District’s Conservation Areas.

At the invitation of the Chairman, the Planning Portfolio Holder (Councillor Bray) responded to the points made and agreed to take them on board and to progress them with the Director (Planning).

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

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bush, Chittock and Winfield.

Councillor Bush had been unable to attend the meeting as it coincided with the annual meeting of Great Oakley Parish Council and as Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council he was obligated to attend.

Councillor Chittock had been unable to attend due to a family funeral.

Councillor Winfield had been unable to attend due to the illness of a close family member.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on Monday 23 January 2023.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Monday 23 January 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman reminded Members that the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community Joint Committee had agreed that the Development Plan Document for the Garden Community should go out to consultation. This had now been ratified by both TDC’s and Colchester City Council’s respective Full Councils and would now go out for a second public consultation. All responses to that consultation would be considered alongside the DPD at an Examination-in-Public, which was expected to be held in mid-Autumn 2023.

The Chairman and the Director (Planning) updated the Committee on the further practical and pragmatic discussions held with senior Officers of the Environment Agency (EA) in order to clarify the EA’s current stance on the emerging Jaywick Sands Place Plan.

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.

In relation to Agenda Item 6, report A.1 – Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plans for Great Clacton, Lawford, Bradfield and Ramsey, Councillor Fairley declared for the public record that she was the Ward Member for Bradfield and Ramsey.

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.

No questions on notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 38 had been submitted on this occasion.

The Council’s Public Speaking Scheme for the Local Plan Committee gives the opportunity for members of the public and other interested parties/stakeholders to speak to the Council’s elected members on the Local Plan Committee on any specific agenda item to be considered at that public meeting.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Council’s public speaking scheme for the Planning Policy & Local Plan Committee, no member of the public had registered to ask at this meeting a question regarding the matters contained in the report of the Director (Planning).

No member of the public attended the meeting to make a statement on the matters contained in the report of the Director (Planning).

To report to Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee another set of four ‘Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plans’ prepared for the Council by Essex Place Services, and for the Committee to agree a recommendation to Cabinet that they be published for consultation.

The Committee considered a comprehensive report of the Director (Planning) (A.1) which reported to it the Bradfield, Great Clacton, Lawford and Ramsey Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Plans prepared for the Council by Essex Place Services, and requested that the Committee agreed a recommendation to Cabinet that they be published for consultation purposes.

Alterations to Boundaries

Great Clacton

To the south of the churchyard and east of the twentieth century vicarage, mid-twentieth century housing had been augmented with a new development of further bungalows at the northern end of Nightingale Way, on previously undeveloped land. Those were characterful in design and had been carefully detailed but were not of sufficient architectural quality to merit inclusion in the Conservation Area. It was also proposed to omit an area of unkempt scrubland directly fronting Valley Road and a tarmacked area behind this surrounding the Army Cadets’ building located off Valley Road. The map on page 4 of the Appraisal showed the proposed amended Conservation Area boundary.

Lawford

The proposed addition to the Conservation Area included the Ogilvie Hall and early twentieth century social housing with some later infill development.

The boundary of the Conservation Area would be expanded eastwards along Wignall Street to include Nos. 11-16 Wignall Street on the southern side of the road. Together those buildings formed a pleasing and uniform group on the approach to the historic core of Lawford. The buildings were of special historic interest and some architectural interest as they represented a period of time when social housing had been expanded in response to the post First World War national housing crisis.

The boundary change would also include the 1909 Ogilvie Hall, which was in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style and played a prominent role in the approach to the historic core of Lawford.

Bradfield

It was proposed to revise the boundary to remove Old Hall House, Harwich Road, from the Conservation Area [Figure 4]. Built since the previous appraisal, Old Hall House [Figure 3] was not considered to reflect the prevailing character of the Conservation Area due to its construction date, massing, and appearance.

Minor alterations were also proposed to the northern edge of the Conservation Area’s boundary to remove an outbuilding associated with Greenacres (a modern dwelling which was not within the Conservation Area boundary) on Station Road from within the Conservation Area. Other minor amendments were proposed to rationalise the Conservation Area boundary against existing plot boundaries. Those were depicted on the map on the following page.

Ramsey

The modern properties in Windmill Close had been excluded. The west boundary of the designation had been moved to the lane adjacent to White House Farm. Windmill Close, and the properties within it, were not considered to contribute to special interest nor did they form part of the historic settlement.

A large portion of the Conservation Area had been removed to the south of the village. This area held no architectural or historic interest in its own right and was better considered as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

“I would like to thank both the Chairman of the Planning Committee (Councillor White) and the Portfolio Holder for Planning (Councillor Bray) for their interest and their regular attendance at our musings. It has made for better decision making and more open debate.

Thank you to Mr Guiver and your team. It has been a long and hard row we have harrowed, but it has born excellent fruit.

As to the future, this Committee has the last three Conservation Area appraisals to comment on i.e. Ardleigh, Great Holland and Tendring. It will be starting to work upon the five-year review of the Local Plan. It will also have many Parish Council Neighbourhood Plans to review and, most importantly, the ‘Local Listings’.

Thank you all once again and may I wish all Members who are putting themselves forward at the Elections fair wind and a successful passage.”

With the permission of the Chairman, Councillor Fairley asked for, and received from the Director (Planning) an update on the current position with regard to the Council’s response to the public consultations on the following matters:-

(a)    Five Estuaries;

(b)    North Falls; and

(c)     East Anglia Green.