Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of substitutes (if any).

There were apologies for absence from Councillors Paul Skinner and Yvonne Stevens.  Councillor Colin Brotherton was substituting for Councillor Stevens.

To sign and confirm the minutes of the last meeting, held on 9^th October 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9^th October 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of any item on the agenda.

Councillor Claire Rylott declared that she knew the applicant for B/17/0316 and B/17/0315 and would leave the room for the consideration of these applications.

Councillors Alison Austin and Stephen Woodliffe declared that they had received a communication from Councillor Peter Bedford regarding either B/17/0316 or B/17/0315, but had taken no note of the content and retained open minds.  Councillor Austin declared that she had been lobbied by the agent with respect to B/17/0316 and had completed the appropriate form.

The Chairman declared that he would leave the room for consideration of application B/17/0359, as the site was in close proximity to land in his ownership, and discussions might touch on matters that might have a bearing on his own land. 

The clerk relayed the following standing declarations of interest:

·         Councillor Alison Austin -  Member of Lincolnshire County Council

·         Councillors David Brown, Colin Brotherton, Michael Cooper, Sue Ransome and Claire Rylott – Borough Council Members on the South East Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee and Councillor Alison Austin – County Councillor Member of that Committee

·         Councillors Colin Brotherton, Michael Cooper and Claire Rylott – the Council’s representatives on the Internal Drainage Boards 

The Chairman advised the Committee that he had agreed a change of the order of business due to exceptional circumstances in order to ensure the attendance of a public speaker; therefore, planning application B/17/0359 would be considered first and the Vice-Chairman would take the chair.

Outline Application for residential development (up to 5 dwellings) including access with all other matters reserved for later approval.

Land North of Spalding Road, Sutterton, Boston, PE20 2ET

Mr & Mrs Pacey

[The Chairman, Councillor David Brown, left the room for the entire consideration of this application.]

Vice-Chairman in the chair

Outline Application for residential development (up to 5 dwellings) including access with all other matters reserved for later approval      

Land North of Spalding Road, Sutterton, Boston, PE20 2ET

Mr & Mrs Pacey

The Senior Planning Officer presented the report and added that an e-mail had been received from the Highway Authority confirming that the highway sign on the corner of the proposed access road would be removed to prevent it obscuring motorists’ view of the road in the event that this application was approved.

The Committee received representation from members of the public who had registered to speak in accordance with the Council’s public speaking scheme and the main points raised follow below in summary.

Objectors

A resident from each of the two properties located either side of the proposed access shared the public speaking time and raised the following objections to the application.

Resident of Jesmond:

·         Erection of a 1.8m close-boarded fence restricting light despite the automatic right to light of window apertures over 20 years’ old.

·         Loss of privacy and overlooking.

·         General nuisance caused by activity on the private road.

·         Impact of additional cars and inadequate parking on highway safety.

·         Policies C01, G1, G6 and H3 resisted development that would cause substantial harm to the character or amenity of an area.

·         Roadside presentation of refuse on a single-track access.

·         Rights to peaceful enjoyment of their home and to respect for their private family life under the Human Rights Act.

·         The Committee was welcomed to visit the site.

Resident of Fenbank:

·         The proposal was refused previously because it was out of character with the area’s open aspect and due to the adverse impact of increased activity in the access on residential amenity; these issues were not addressed by the new application.

·         A conveyance document from 1926 made stipulations to preserve the open access and character of this part of Sutterton.

·         The proposed 1.8m fencing along the 35m boundaries of existing properties would be detrimental to the character of the area and would not prevent an adverse impact on residential amenity.

·         Spalding Road was busy with a bend close to the entry to the private drive; vehicles often exceeded its 30 mph speed limit; and heavy vehicles used it as a cut-through at times of high congestion.

·         Vehicles would only be able to use the access one at a time to enter or exit the site along its 40ft length possibly causing congestion.

·         There would be no room for footpaths, which would put pedestrians and other users at risk; accidents would happen.

A representative of the applicant’s agent

·         The Planning Officer had thoroughly considered the changes made to the application and recommended that permission be granted, considering that layout was unnecessary as part of an outline application. 

·         The principle of development was not in question; the Planning Officer agreed that Sutterton was a sustainable village and the site was a “natural adjunct  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

Outline application for 7no. affordable dwellings and 2no. market dwellings with matters relating to layout, scale, appearance, landscaping and access reserved for later consideration

Land off Girls School Lane, Butterwick, Lincolnshire

Mr & Mrs P Pearson

Outline application for 7no. affordable dwellings and 2no. market dwellings with matters relating to layout, scale, appearance, landscaping and access reserved for later consideration

Land off Girls School Lane, Butterwick, Lincolnshire

Mr & Mrs P Pearson

The Senior Planning Officer presented the report.  Attention was drawn to the map included at page 23, which indicated the site for application B/17/0315 in error; this has been pointed out to Members prior to the meeting and a corrected map had been circulated.

It was noted that the proposal sought outline planning permission for 7 affordable dwellings and 2 self-build plots.  Self-build plots were dealt with under national guidance differently to some extent; they were new, with no data entries as yet in the self-build register.  The Senior Planning Officer quoted guidance on to how best to consider supporting self-build in the area.

The Committee received representation from the applicant’s agent, who had registered to speak in accordance with the Council’s public speaking scheme, and the main points raised follow below in summary.

·         The view shown in the presentation over open countryside would not be affected at all. 

·         A scheme had been prepared for both sides of the road because it prevented ribbon development and created an avenue gateway entrance to the village. 

·         They had liaised with the Highway Authority and the Internal Drainage Board to mitigate concerns about children being dropped off at the school; the proposal now incorporated a 1.5m footpath to the west side. 

·         A ditch had been piped for water run-off and driveways widened to create passing bays, thus providing a solution to an existing traffic problem.

·         The existing hedged boundary would be supplemented by tree planting to create a soft village edge.

·         The partial view of the church was disappearing behind maturing trees, there would be large spaces between dwellings and the view from the corner would remain open and there would still be open views along most part of the lanes. 

·         The proposal’s provision of affordable housing and self-build significantly reduced the weight of Policy C01. 

·         The housing provider wanted the sites immediately in order to bid for a 2018 start.  The Principal Housing Strategy Officer had advised that one-bed units were needed and these could be incorporated easily. 

Reference was made to Planning Inspector’s recent decision on the Middlegate Road appeal, which gave weight to the current proposal, particularly in view of the borough’s lack of a 5-year housing supply, the lack of weight given to views, the need for affordable housing and the use of grade one or two land for essential housing.  The inspector had attached significant weight to the benefit of the proposal in providing additional housing and affordable housing, which in that case was 20%, and in this case was 88% across the two sites.  The ‘titled balance’ was significantly in favour of the proposal when weighed against a partial view of the church and a soft village edge, the latter, again, being found acceptable by the Middlegate Road inspector. 

The Monitoring Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

Outline application for 7no. affordable dwellings with matters relating to layout, scale, appearance, landscaping and access reserved for later consideration

Land off Girls School Lane, Butterwick, PE22 0HY

Mr R Pearson

Outline application for 7no. affordable dwellings with matters relating to layout, scale, appearance, landscaping and access reserved for later consideration

Land off Girls School Lane, Butterwick, PE22 0HY

Mr R Pearson

The Senior Planning Officer presented the report and added that the paragraph (7.7) relating to a condition for glazing specification, did not apply and should be deleted. 

The Committee received representation from the applicant’s agent, who had registered to speak in accordance with the Council’s public speaking scheme, and the main points raised follow below in summary.

·         This proposal reflected the proposal on the other side and together they would create a gabled gateway, which, along with new hedging and tree planting, would create a pleasing entrance to the village. 

·         Double driveways would be formed, which would help alleviate parking problems, as they would have to be kept clear.

·         There would be a S106 planning obligation for the provision of affordable housing in the same way as the previous proposal. 

·         Although outline planning permission was being sought, the proposal had been fully designed.  The application was for 7 affordable dwellings; however, the Principal Housing Officer would prefer there to be 2 one-bed units, which could be achieved by turning the last dwelling into 2 one-bed units, resulting in 8 dwellings in total. 

·         Condition 5, relating to flood risk mitigation measures, had been fully agreed.

The Senior Planning Officer advised the meeting that it was not possible for the application to be amended to 8 dwellings for various reasons, not least the consultation process.  However, if the application was resubmitted with this amendment it would be a swift process.  It was recommended that an additional condition be added to limit the number of dwellings to 7. 

It was proposed by Councillor Noble and seconded by Councillor Austin that authority be delegated to the Interim Development Control Manager to grant outline planning permission as recommended by the Planning Officers with an additional condition that the number of dwellings be limited to 7.

Vote: Unanimous.

RESOLVED: That authority be delegated to the Interim Development Control Manager to grant Outline Planning Permission upon satisfactory completion of a section 106 planning obligation/unilateral undertaking with the Council relating to the provision of seven affordable housing units (to be concluded within three months of instructions or the application will return to Committee) and subject to the following conditions:

1.      No development shall commence until details of the layout, appearance, landscaping, scale and access for the development (hereafter referred to as the ‘reserved maters’) have been submitted to and approved by the local planning authority.

 
Reason: Required to be imposed pursuant to Section 92 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This is an outline application only and such details must be approved before development commences, and to accord with the objectives of Local Plan Policies G1 and H3 and with the intentions of the NPPF (2012).

2.     Application for approval of Reserved Matters shall be made to the local planning authority not later than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

Change of Use from shop (Class A1) to a coffee shop comprising (A1 and A3 uses)

14-16 Strait Bargate, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE21 6LW

Mr Steve Gill, Hot Millions Ltd

Change of Use from shop (Class A1) to a coffee shop comprising (Class A1 and Class A3 uses)

14-16 Strait Bargate, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE21 6LW

Mr Steve Gill, Hot Millions Ltd

The Planning Officer presented the report.

It was proposed by Councillor Dani and seconded by Councillor Austin that planning permission be granted as recommended by the Planning Officers.

Vote: Unanimous.

RESOLVED That Full Planning Permission be granted subject to the following conditions:

1.      The development hereby permitted shall be begun before the expiration of three years from the date of this permission. 

Reason: Required to be imposed pursuant to Section 91 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

2.      The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans:

·               Location plan (1/7)

·               Ground Floor Proposals Option F  BMMS0211/BO (5/7)

·               First Floor Proposals BMMS0211/04 (7/7)

Reason:  To ensure the development is undertaken in accordance with the approved details and to accord with Adopted Local Plan Policy G1.

Delegated Decision List – 20 September to 20 October 2017

The Delegated Decision List for 20^th September to 20^th October 2017 was noted.