Agenda and minutes

*P&L 07         

Apologies were received from Cllr A Roberts for whom Cllr J Yelland acted as substitute. 

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.

[If Councillors have any questions relating to predetermination, bias or interests in items on this Agenda, then please contact the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting]      

*P&L 08         

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

Cllr J Yelland declared a personal interest in application 0436/16/COU:  change of use from private garage (C3) to furniture shop (A1) – Kingswood, Castle Road, Okehampton, by virtue of being the local Ward Member who called the application to Committee and a Member of Okehampton Town Council.  She remained in the meeting and took part in the debate and vote;

Cllr T G Pearce declared a personal interest in all applications, by virtue of being a Member of the Devon Building Control Partnership.  He remained in the meeting and took part in the debate and vote on each item.

In accordance with the Committee Procedure Rules, Cllrs R E Baldwin and G Parker both advised that, since they were not in attendance at the last Committee meeting held on 28 June 2016, they would potentially take part in the debates on those applications that had been deferred to a site inspection at that meeting.  However, both Members confirmed that they would abstain from the vote on each of these applications.

To consider those items which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered by the Meeting as matters of urgency (if any). 

*P&L 09         

With the agreement of the Chairman, a Member wished to highlight that a Horse Drawn Carriage was currently operating in the Burrator area without a licence.

In reply, the Chairman urged the concerned Member to make Enforcement Officers aware that this was occurring.

Meeting held on 28 June 2016

*P&L 10         

The Minutes of the Planning and Licensing Committee Meeting held on 28 June 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

*P&L 11         

The Committee considered the applications prepared by the Development Management Specialists and considered also the comments of Town and Parish Councils together with other representations received, which were listed within the presented agenda reports and summarised below, and RESOLVED:

(a)             Application No:  0958/16/FUL     Ward: Buckland Monachorum

Site Address: Land West of Seaton Way, Crapstone, Yelverton

PL20 7UZ       

Development of an 80kW solar photovoltaic installation, comprising of 307 solar photovoltaic panels with a rating of 260W each.  Panels to be arragned in 7 rows of 22.24 metres long, with the top of the panels having a height of 2.46 metres above ground level.  There will be a spacing of 9 metres between the rows and a deer fence enclosing the panels.

Speakers included:  local Ward Member – Cllr R Cheadle (a brief statement read out on his behalf)

RECOMMENDATION:          Conditional Approval

By way of an update following the site inspection, the Specialist (MJ) advised Members that a revised site location plan had been received and was presented to the Committee.  Secondly, it was confirmed that the height of the fence would be no higher than two metres, which was considered satisfactory since the fence would not be immediately adjacent to solar panels.

In the ensuing debate, some Members expressed their support for the proposals, with reference being made to the fact that there were no windows overlooking the site.

COMMITTEE DECISION:  Conditional Approval

(b)  Application No:  0436/16/COU            Ward: Okehampton South

Site Address: Kingswood, Castle Road, Okehampton EX20 1HX 

Change of use from private garage (C3) to furniture shop (A1)

Speakers included:    local Ward Member – Cllr Yelland

  The Specialist (MJ) updated the Committee by advising that, since the site inspection, he had received comments back from Strategic Planning colleagues confirming that the site was ‘out of the town centre’ and not on the ‘edge of the town centre’.  MJ also confimred that, whilst there were units currently available for A1 usage within Okehampton town centre, these were not deemed to be suitable by the applicants for their business needs.

The Highways Authority Representative (PT) informed that he was particularly familiar with this site and was of the view that, whilst there may be moments of inconvenience on the highway, these would not be so significant to be deemed as resulting in having a severe impact.  In reaching a balanced judgement, PT had concluded that he did not feel that there was a sustainable reason to raise an objection to these proposals on highways grounds.

In discussion, the following points were raised:-

(a)  PT confirmed that the impact on the local residential home and visitors to the Castle had been taken fully into conisderation when making his highways recommendations;

(b)  In light of the comments of the participating local ward Member, it was agreed that the below sentence should be deleted from the case officer report and it therefore should not be taken into account by the Committee when determining this application:

“Furthermore, the applicant lives  ...  view the full minutes text for item *P&L11

*P&L 12         

The Committee received and noted the updated list of Planning Appeals including enforcement appeals.

The Chairman informed that officers had agreed that the enforcement appeals would be more clearly designated in future update reports.

As a general point, the Committee wished to put on record its gratitude for the number of appeals that were being dismissed and welcomed the fact that the Planning Inspector was in agreement with the Council in most instances.

 *P&L 13        

A report was presented that sought (following a Court of Appeal decision) to complete the previously agreed Section 106 Agreements without affordable housing or affordable housing contributions, in line with re-imposed Government guidance.

It was then RESOLVED:

1.    That Section 106 Agreements on small scale residential development (as defined at the recent Special Council meeting held on 28 June 2016 (Minute CM 21a ii refers) previously considered by the Planning and Licensing Committee be completed without the requirement for affordable housing or an affordable housing contribution; and

2.    That, in cases where the Section 106 Agreement for a small scale residential development only related to the provision of affordable housing or a financial contribution to affordable housing, the applications be approved without the need for a Section 106 Agreement.

P&L 14           

The Committee was presented with 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 discussion, the following points were raised:

(a)  A Member was of the view that the content of the Peer Challenge report did not reflect the tone of the wash-up presentation given by the team on 20 April 2016.  As a consequence, the Member questioned how many amendments had been made by Council officers to the draft report prior to its publication.  In response, the Executive Director (SH) informed that the draft report was only checked for points of accuracy and two minor amendments were subsequently made by officers.  SH proceeded to give further assurances that nothing substantially had been changed to the draft report that had been received by the team;

(b)  The Committee asked that the Action Plan term ‘from cradle to grave’ (page 79 of the presented agenda report refers) be amended to read ‘from start to finish’;

(c)  In welcoming the action to review the Committee site visit protocol, it was noted that the COP Lead Development Management was intending to present a report to a future Committee meeting for further consideration;

(d)  Members also welcomed the specific action relating to engaging with town and parish councils on expectations around support for neighbourhood plans;

(e)  It was PROPOSED and SECONDED that an additional (two-fold) action should be added to the plan as below:-

‘That the Political Structures Working Group be tasked with giving consideration to:

-       changing the name of the Planning and Licensing Committee to the ‘Development Management Committee’; and

-       establishing a separate stand-alone Licensing Committee.

with the Working Group recommendations being presented to the Council for determination, with any subsequent changes coming into effect from the Annual Council meeting in May 2017.’

 When put to the vote, this addition was declared CARRIED.

(f)   Members were supportive of the proposal for relevant planning performance indicators to be presented to the Committee and recognised that this would require Council approval of a minor change to the Committee Terms of Reference.

It was then RESOLVED that the:

1.    content of the Planning Peer Challenge report (as outlined at Appendix 2 of the presented agenda report) be noted;

2.    content of the Action Plan 2016/17 being implemented to improve performance within the wider Planning function (as outlined at Appendix 3 of the presented agenda report) be endorsed, subject to inclusion of the amendments highlighted in the minutes above; and

3.    Committee receive on a monthly basis key performance data relevant to the Action Plan and the Council be RECOMMENDED to update the Committee Terms of Reference to reflect this additional responsibility.