Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and authorise the Chairman to sign the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6 July 2016;

DM.14/16       

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6 July 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to deletion of the following sentence in respect of application number 1527/16/FUL: Land adjacent to Whitestrand Car Park, Fore Street, Salcombe (Minute DM.12/16 refers):

‘Use of new decking for A1 (retail), A3 (restaurants and cafes) and A5 (hot food takeaway) uses.’

Brought forward at the discretion of the Chairman;

DM.15/16       

The Chairman informed that he had agreed for one urgent item to be raised at this meeting.  This item related to the recent Judgement and Order that had been handed down on the Brimhay Bungalows Judicial Review and was considered urgent in light of the announcement having been recently made.

At this point, the Chairman invited the Council Solicitors to provide an update on this matter.

In so doing, reference was made to:-

(a)  the findings of the Judge.  It was noted that the Judge had concluded that insufficient reference had been given to the relevance of Council Policy DP8 (loss of open space) in the case officer report that had been considered by the Committee;

(b)  reconsideration by the Committee.  Members were informed that the planning application would need to be reconsidered by the Committee as quickly as possible.  An amended case officer report would be produced that would incorporate the findings of the Judge and it would then be a matter for the Committee to make a fresh decision on the merits of the planning application;

(c)  the Council being liable to pay the claimants’ legal costs; and

(d)  the process followed (and findings reached) in this instance having a number of Member training implications.

DM.16/16       

The Chairman informed that application 1307/16/FUL: Resubmission of application number 0116/16/FUL being the demolition of an existing house and the building of a new dwelling and associated works – The Rough, Devon Road, Salcombe TQ8 8HJ had been withdrawn by the applicants prior to the start of this meeting.

Members are invited to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting;

DM.17/16       

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered and the following were made:

Cllr T R Holway declared a personal interest in application 0890/16/HHO: Householder application for a first floor extension to comprise of master bedroom and en-suite – 14 Riverside Walk, Yealmpton by virtue of knowing residents who lived within that road.  He remained in the meeting for the duration of this application and took part in the debate and vote thereon;

Cllr P K Cuthbert declared a personal interest in application 0579/16/FUL: Erection of a detached house on land previously used for WI Hall – Site of WI Hall, Ford Road, Yealmpton, PL8 2NA by virtue of knowing the agent for this application.  She remained in the meeting for the duration of this application and took part in the debate and vote thereon.

The Chairman to advise the Committee on any requests received from members of the public to address the meeting;

DM.18/16       

The Chairman announced that a list of members of the public who had registered their wish to speak at the meeting had been circulated.

DM.19/16       

The Committee considered the details of the planning applications prepared by the Planning Case Officers as presented in the agenda papers, and considered also the comments of Town and Parish Councils together with other representations received, which were listed within the presented agenda reports, and RESOLVED that:

1527/16/FUL        Land Adjacent to Whitestrand Car Park, Fore Street, Salcombe TQ8 8BU

                   Parish: Salcombe

Construction of a new suspended deck structure over the existing slipway, remedial works to the adjacent quayside frontage and car park and removal of a small section of rear wall located in front of the showers.

Case Officer Update:

The public consultation period had now expired and the officer recommendation had now been updated to be one of conditional approval.

It was confirmed that the only element of the scheme that required planning permission was the decking.  Whilst the other elements could be undertaken through Permitted Development, all aspects were included in the application for completeness.

15 additional letters of objection had been received since the last Committee meeting.  New issues raised in these letters were: proposals would interfere with current moorings and be a safety hazard when wet and the application was inconsistent with the DPD and the emerging joint local plan.

In addressing these concerns, the officer informed that the Harbour Master was supportive of the application and any safety concerns were not a material planning consideration.

Speakers included:  local Ward Member – Cllr Wright

Recommendation:  Conditional Approval

During the debate on this application, the local Ward Member in attendance and the Chairman of the Salcombe Harbour Board both highlighted that the deletion of the usage aspect of the original application (minute DM.14/16 above refers) had mitigated the overwhelming majority of objections raised.  As a consequence, both Members felt that the proposed additional seating would enhance that area and were supportive of this application.

Committee Decision:  Conditional Approval

Conditions:

1.         Time limit

2.         Accord with plans

3.         Construction Environmental Management Plan (incorporating comments of Estuaries Officer and Natural England)

4.         Floor Notice

5.         Flood Warning and Evacuation

0004/16/FUL        11 Lower Street, Dartmouth TQ6 9AN

                                    Parish: Dartmouth

Proposed change of use and alterations to ground floor to create garaging, parking and ancillary storage

Case Officer Update: 

The decision had been taken at the last Committee meeting to defer this application pending further information on retail and highways issues.

Loss of a retail unit – officer had recently visited Dartmouth town centre and counted only three empty retail units in the town at that time.  Whilst this indicated high demand for retail units in Dartmouth, this particular application site did not have an ordinary shop frontage and officers did not consider that the proposals would have an adverse effect on the vitality of the retail centre.

Highways implications – the County Highways Officer was in attendance and informed that vehicle tracking information had now been provided by the agents.  This information had indicated that it was possible to exit the application site whilst cars were parked on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item DM.19/16

DM.20/16       

Members noted the list of appeals as outlined in the presented agenda report and the Planning Senior Specialist responded to questions and provided more detail where requested.

In particular, the Committee was advised that there was an error on the list presented to the meeting and the description and location for application number 41/2536/15/F should read as follows:

Proposal: ‘New two bedroom dwelling in existing car parking bay.’

Location: ‘Rockside, Cliff Road, Salcombe.’

DM.21/16       

The Committee considered a report that outlined the Action Plan that had been developed to implement the recommendations contained within the report arising from the Planning Improvement Peer Challenge visit conducted between 18 and 20 April 2016.

In the general discussion, the following points were raised:-

(a)  Members were informed that, whilst it was recognised that there were still a number of improvements to be made, the performance of the Development Management (DM) service was now heading in the right direction;

(b)  Some Members felt it to be regrettable that the Council no longer utilised its Design and Conservation Panel or the concept of Developer Forums for major planning applications;

(c)  In light of the service being reliant on the Council’s IT systems, Members requested that they receive (outside of the meeting) a further briefing paper from officers on the latest IT position;

(d)  When questioned on the matter of staff morale within the service, the Specialists Manager advised that the officers were under pressure and working incredibly hard.  Whilst individual caseloads had reduced, these had recently begun to creep back up again and there was a need to embed all of the T18 processes and systems in order to reduce the pressure on officers.

In taking this point a step further, a Member queried the suitability of the Future Operating Model for the DM Service and requested that an informal meeting be held between Committee Members and DM specialist officers.  In reply, the Committee Chairman agreed to consider this request;

(e)  Reference was made to a submission from Cllr Pearce (who was unable to attend this meeting) and her comments were considered and noted by the Committee.

Members then proceeded to debate the draft Action Plan, reference was made:

(i)     Action 1.  The view was expressed that some of the terminology associated with the Transformation Programme was somewhat confusing.  As an example, it was felt that the Case Manager role (that did not have any line management responsibility) should be re-defined as being ‘Case Processers’;

(ii)    Action 3.  As a specific point, a Member requested that the functionality of the website include some form of colour coding system to indicate what pages had already been viewed;

(iii)   Action 4.  Whilst some concerns were expressed regarding the timing of the joint Developer / Agent Forum (22 August 2016), the overriding view was that such a Forum was long overdue and swift progress needed to be made in this regard;

(iv)  Action 5.  Whilst recognising the importance of facilitating engagement with town and parish councils, a Member emphasised the need for such engagement to be more creative and innovative.

The Committee also considered the need to support neighbourhood plans to be of equal importance.  As a consequence, Members welcomed the news that an officer had recently been employed by the Council, who would be tasked with supporting the Neighbourhood Planning process;

(v)   Action 6.  A Member expressed his concerns at the decision to delegate authority to adopt the Local Development  ...  view the full minutes text for item DM.21/16