Agenda and minutes

Councillor Picknell welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the Committee and officers introduced themselves and the Chair outlined the procedures for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Kay and Klute.

Councillor Williamson substituted for Councillor Kay.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)  Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)    Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of  your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c)    Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works,    between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d)     Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e)     Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)      Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g)    Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be as per the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 November 2018 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The demolition of 154sqm Use Class D1, the demolition and relocation of the sub-station, the re-use of two existing residential units for bicycle storage, the construction of 45 new dwelling units with associated amenity space for affordable and private homes, provided in seven new blocks ranging from 2 to 6 storeys, bicycle parking spaces, improvements to the public realm, and the provision of 293 sqm of flexible Use Class D1/B1.

(Planning application number: P2018/1970/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The planning officer stated that the design and conservation officer’s full comments had been circulated to members. The comments stated that harm to the conservation area would be caused by Block K and Block H. The design and conservation officer had provided clarification that a mistake had been made and it was Block F, not Block H which caused harm.

·         The planning officer advised that Paragraph 10.21 of the officer report should refer to Paragraph 194 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Paragraph 10.28 of the officer report should refer to Paragraph 196 of the NPPF.

·         The planning officer stated that the committee was required to consider whether harm was caused to the outlined heritage assets, assess the degree of harm and give considerable weight to the fact harm was caused when balancing the harm against the planning benefits. Paragraph 10.29 to 10.36 of the officer report outlined the heritage assets. The design and conservation officer considered that the harm was less than substantial and at the lower end of the scale.  Planning officers were mindful of the duty to preserve and enhance and put great weight on the harm in approaching the planning balance. Officers considered that the increase in D1 floorspace, improved landscaping, public realm, play facilities, amenity space and delivery of much needed housing (including affordable housing), improved security and safety, along with improvements to existing buildings were compelling benefits and notwithstanding the great weight placed on the fact harm would be caused, the benefits were considered to outweigh the harm caused to the heritage asset from Blocks F and K.

·         In response to a question from a member, the planning officer stated that an example of substantial harm would be if a listed building was to be demolished. An example of less than substantial harm could be if there was an adverse impact to the character and appearance of part of a conservation area, for example by virtue of the height and scale of a new building, as was the case with this scheme, where Block K would affect views to and from the green.

·         In response to a question from a member the planning officer explained that reducing the size of Block K could reduce its visual impact, and harm. Members asked if a reduction might affect the scheme viability. The planning officer explained that the reduction in built form would impact on the number of units able to be provided and this would affect viability. It was explained that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Stopping up order of existing highway comprising part of the passageway to the south east of Rheidol Terrace, extending to the rear of 37 Allingham Street, under Section 247 of the Planning Act 1990 to enable the redevelopment of the Packington Estate (Phase 4).

(Planning application number: P2018/3689/FUL)

RESOLVED:

That the starting of the stopping up process be approved subject to the applicant entering into an indemnity agreement to pay all the council’s costs in respect of the stopping up.