Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 22 June 2023
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Planning and Conservation Committee – 22 June 2023 – agenda and papers
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 22 June 2023
PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: 22 June 2023
Time: 4.00pm – 5.14pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillors Butler (Chairman), Vivian (Vice-Chairman), Chant, Hitchman and Squire (from 4.27pm)
EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor (Councillor J Gershater), Deputy Mayor (Councillor Corfield), Chairman of Community Affairs Committee (Councillor Apel) and Chairman of Finance Committee (Councillor Scicluna)
IN ATTENDANCE: Councillors Loxton and Quail
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Deputy Town Clerk, Planning Adviser, Members Services Support Officer, West Sussex District Councillor Simon Oakley, Chichester District Councillor Bill Brisbane, Mr Ash Pal (Chairman of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, 9 members of the public including additional representatives of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
11. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
No apologies had been received
12. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
Councillors Apel, Chant, Corfield and Vivian declared an interest as Members of Chichester District Council.
Councillors Apel, Corfield, C Gershater and Vivian declared an interest as City Council representatives on the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
13. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 25 MAY 2023
RESOLVED to approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Planning and Conservation Committee meeting held on 25 May 2023.
14. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION
CC/23/00533/FUL
Case Officer: Eleanor Midlane-Ward
Southgate Car Park Deanery Close Chichester West Sussex
Construction of a pitched tiled roof on an existing open storage area.
No objection.
CC/23/00454/FUL
Case Officer: Sascha Haigh
Harry’s Fish And Chips 105A Victoria Road Chichester West Sussex
Demolition of single storey fish and chip shop and ancillary buildings, construction of 2 no. semi detached dwellings and 1 no. detached dwelling, including parking provision to 3 no. new dwellings and to retained existing dwelling.
Objection. The 2m fencing around the frontage of the plot, and the orientation of plot 2 with the rear garden along the street frontages of Victoria Road and Leatherbottle Lane unacceptably affects the openness of this street corner, prevents interaction and natural surveillance, and would unacceptably harm the character and appearance of the area. Plot 2 offers insufficient parking for a corner plot in this area of limited parking. The dwelling at plot 2 and any fencing over 1m in height adjacent to the highway should be omitted from the scheme in order to achieve an acceptable development.
Should the development be permitted, a condition should be imposed to ensure timber windows and doors, and not UPVC.
CC/23/00953/FUL
Case Officer: Vicki Baker
Muchos Nachos at The Crown 140 Whyke Road Chichester West Sussex
Retrospective outdoor play area within the grounds/landscape of Muchos Nachos.
No objection.
15. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – GENERAL UPDATE
Mr Ash Pal, Chairman of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, gave a brief summary about the Neighbourhood Plan (NP) and introduced some of the members of the Steering Group who had attended the meeting. He also shared with Members a brief outline of his personal background.
Mr Pal gave a short update about recent activity and expressed his opinions on the Planning Adviser’s Neighbourhood Plan report that had been circulated with the agenda.
16. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – OPTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION
The Planning Adviser summarised her options report that had been circulated with the agenda with the aid of a Powerpoint presentation.
Members were advised that the purpose of the discussion was for Councillors to hear and discuss options for the future of the NP but that it was not within the Committee’s power to make a formal decision regarding the plan.
The Committee was further advised that the next step would be to present the options to the Full Council meeting being held on 28 June 2023 and it would be for the Council as a whole to decide how to proceed.
The Planning Adviser introduced Neighbourhood Plans and summarised the work and progress which had taken place on the Chichester NP to date.
Members were informed that the NP had been in production for four years but remained close to the beginning of the process for a number of reasons.
Members were further advised that some of the work completed was now considered out of date and that the Steering Group were planning on starting again with initial consultation, rather than drawing on any information from the large scale 2020 consultation.
The Committee was informed that, during the recent meeting between the Steering Group Chairman, Ash Pal, and the Planning Adviser, they had agreed that there was an “Ambition Gap” between them in terms of the type of NP the Planning Adviser considered achievable and the type of NP the Steering Group wished to pursue. This was again confirmed at the Steering Group Meeting.
The Planning Adviser stated that an NP was primarily a planning policy document with a suite of planning policies used in the determination of planning applications, and that these must not conflict with the Local Plan.
However, she reported that the Steering Group had not agreed to produce a Plan of this nature, which they considered lacked ambition. Instead, they wished to continue consideration of large-scale land use re-organisation projects which would not be achievable through an NP. These included the re-siting of the Quarry Lane industrial units on a second tier of industrial units constructed over the existing ones in Terminus Road, so that Quarry Lane could be re-allocated as housing land. The Steering Group felt that, without such “big ideas”, an NP comprising of planning policies based on consultation responses and produced following the standard procedures would result in an NP which was the same as everybody else’s and would not have a big enough impact on the City to address its decline.
For the same reason, they further stated that they were not committed to the process of considering the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA), carrying out a call for sites, and assessing the options for potential housing sites through the standard site allocations processes.
Members discussed the report, the history of the NP and how best to proceed.
Strong opinions were expressed during a robust debate about the report and other aspects of the NP processes to date.
Members were advised to note that CIL uplift did not represent a true return on the cost of an NP as it was only a redistribution of funds from the District Council to the Parish Council for infrastructure spending. However, an update on the potential CIL uplift was provided for Members’ information. This set out that the remaining CIL uplift potentially available following the adoption of an NP would likely be in the region of £700,000, as opposed to the £2m anticipated in 2019 when work started on the NP.
Councillor Chant urged Members to focus their thoughts on the people, community and planning processes that the NP was supposed to support, rather than the amount of CIL money that could potentially be received.
Chichester District Councillor Bill Brisbane suggested that support for the Steering Group in the form of District Council Officer resource might be available. He also advised Members that there were a number of regeneration projects being planned over a period of time that could qualify for the CIL uplift if the NP was adopted.
Councillor Squire reminded the Committee that the majority of the current Council administration were very new and likely had limited knowledge of the NP. He expressed strong concerns that the Councillors were being asked to make a major decision on the project on the basis of limited background knowledge.
After a short further discussion, Councillor Scicluna proposed, Councillor Apel seconded and it was unanimously RESOLVED that a Special Meeting of the Planning and Conservation Committee be called for late July. It was further RESOLVED that all Councillors, the Steering Group and Feria Urbanism, the NP consultants, be invited and that the sole purpose of the meeting would be to receive further reports about the NP and its future for Councillors to discuss which could then be taken to the Meeting of Council in late September for a formal decision.
The Committee asked the Officers to discuss possible dates for the meeting and make the necessary arrangements to invite the attendees as agreed.
17. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – LETTER TO CHICHESTER DISTRICT COUNCIL
Members were reminded that this item had been deferred from the previous meeting held on 25 May 2023.
The Committee were reminded that the letter being discussed had been drafted by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group in February to be sent to Chichester District Council through the Committee Chairman and that it related to the relationship between the City Council’s NP and the District Council’s Local Plan.
The Planning Adviser reminded Members that the Local Plan had now completed its consultation stages and would be submitted for approval shortly. She expressed the opinion that, given this, it was unlikely that this would result in any changes being made to the Local Plan and that the NP should be in accord with the Local Plan rather than the other way round.
Councillor Apel expressed concerns that the letter was now several months old and may have been too delayed to have any effect.
Councillor Squire repeated his earlier concerns about the complexity of the subject being discussed and suggested that the letter be deferred while Members became better acquainted with the topic.
After a short further debate, Mr Pal proposed he withdraw the letter in its current form and resubmit a new, updated, version to the next meeting of the Committee.
The Committee agreed to the proposal and thanked Mr Pal for his suggestion.
18. 20MPH DEFAULT WIDE AREA SPEED LIMIT – UPDATE
The Deputy Mayor outlined the progress of the 20MPH Default Wide Area Speed Limit and expressed some frustration with the slow progress being made.
She reminded Members of what the project was aiming to do and further expressed the opinion that the work involved was not as onerous as it may at first appear.
The Committee were reminded that there had been a call for Councillor volunteers from each ward to join the Working Group but were advised that only two had come forward so far.
Referring to her report that had been circulated with the agenda, the Deputy Mayor outlined the quotes for work that needed to be undertaken in support of the project.
The Member Services Support Officer advised that it would be for the Working Group to put together the specifications for each piece of work being asked for from external sources.
He further advised that, once this had been done, Officers would be able to identify potential contractors and supply the specifications for them to quote against.
Members were informed that, as the specifications were not currently available, there was nothing that the potential contractors could quote a price against.
19. CHICHESTER CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS PLAN
Councillor Chant asked for clarification of the membership of the Business Plan Working Group and what its reporting path was.
The Mayor advised that the Business Plan was a full Council project and that he hoped that Council would agree a change of structure and create an oversight committee for the business plan project.
The Member Services Support Officer confirmed that an item had been added to the agenda for the Meeting of Council on the 28 June 2023 asking Members to consider the dissolution of the Business Plan Working Group and creation of a Business Plan Oversight Committee.
20. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED ON THE NEXT AGENDA
No items were suggested beyond the regular standing items.
21. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING
Thursday 20 July 2023 – 4.00pm
Date of Special Meeting to discuss the Neighbourhood Plan – to be confirmed.
The meeting closed at 5.14pm