Agenda and minutes

Councillor Klute welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the Committee and officers introduced themselves.

Apologies were received from Councillors Clarke and Poyser.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

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 9 January 2024 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Non-material amendments to planning permission ref: P2021/3273/FUL dated 05/08/2022. The amendments proposed include the installation of a second staircase into Block C1 and C2 for the purposes of fire safety with associated internal layout changes resulting in modifications to the dwelling mix, the number of wheelchair dwellings, floorspace for non-residential uses, cycle parking spaces and alteration(s) to elevation(s) resulting in amendment to Condition 2 (approved plans) and Condition 35 (Accessible housing).

(Planning application number: P2024/0027/NMA)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·       Planning Officer informed meeting that issue for consideration is if the changes to Plot C of the consented scheme is a non-material amendment to the overall original consent.

·       Any non-material amendments may be applied for to approve a negligible or insignificant change to the planning permission.

·       Meeting was advised that whether or not the proposed amendment(s) are considered to be non-material rather than material will depend on the specific details of the existing planning permission. It was noted that a change which may be considered ‘non-material’ in one case could be considered ‘material’ in another.

·       Meeting was advised that there is no statutory definition of ‘non- material’ so any determination is left for the local authority who is the decision maker.

·       Planning Officer advised that Section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) states that ‘“A local planning authority may make a change to any planning permission, or any permission in principle (granted following an application to the authority), relating to land in their area if they are satisfied that the change is not material”. Also members were reminded that “in deciding whether a change is material, a local planning authority must have regard to the effect of the change, together with any previous changes made under this section on the planning permission as originally granted”.

·       In addition to the above, meeting was advised that while there are no changes to the number of dwellings within the development, there will be reductions in the number of bedspaces within the larger two and three bed dwellings, reduction in the number of wheelchair dwellings within this part of the development, a reduction in the number of cycle parking spaces and a reduction in the area of flexible commercial floorspace. It was also noted that there would be a small increase of 1.2sq.m the internal size area of the Women’s Building, however there would be no changes to the footprint of the buildings or the built envelope.

·       Meeting was advised that applicant has chosen to utilise Section 96a of the Town and Country Planning Act, also known as a non-material amendment which allows the local planning authority to make a change to any planning permission if they are satisfied that the change(s) are not material.

·       Meeting was advised that officers are of the view and recommend that changes are non-material amendment. The changes necessary, derive from a legislative requirement for residential buildings above 30m in height to accommodate a second staircase. The amendments to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.