Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 1 February 2024
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Planning and Conservation Committee – 1 February 2024 – 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 – 1 February 2024
PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: Thursday 1 February 2024
Time: 4.00pm – 6.17pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillor Ann Butler (Chairman), Councillor James Vivian (Vice-Chairman), and Councillors J Gershater and McHale
EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor (Councillor C Gershater) and Chairman of Community Affairs Committee (Councillor Apel)
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Councillor Miall, Councillor Quail, Town Clerk, Planning Adviser, Civic and Council Support Officer, West Sussex County Councillors Oakley and Hunt, Chichester District Councillor Brown, Paul White (Smith Simmons and Partners) to talk about CC/23/02917/FUL, Greg Ockwell (West Sussex County Council)
IN ATTENDANCE VIA ZOOM: Councillor Pramas, Ash Pal (Chichester City Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group)
102. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
RESOLVED to receive and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from The Deputy Mayor (Councillor Corfield), Councillor Hitchman, Councillor Squire, Councillor Scicluna
103. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
Councillor Vivian declared as a member of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
104. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 7 DECEMBER 2023
RESOLVED to approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Planning and Conservation Committee meeting held on 7 December 2023.
105. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING NOT COVERED ELSEWHERE ON THE AGENDA
To correct the pronoun used to refer to Councillor Chant in minute 77 from his to their. The minute book was corrected and signed by the Committee Chair.
At this point the Chairman took Agenda Item 8.
106. CITY CENTRE PAVEMENTS
a) Minute 99b refers – Letter from the Mayor on behalf of the City Council to be sent to West Sussex County Council (individuals as listed in the minute) emphasising the unacceptability of the current state of the pavement.
Councillor Gershater reported that he has sent a letter on behalf of the city council concerning the state of the pavements.
b) Update from West Sussex County Council Highways regarding progress on the City Centre pavements project further to the completion of a piece of work by WSP Consultants.
Greg Ockwell (Growth Lead, West Sussex County Council) gave a presentation on the work to date and outlined proposals from consultants WSP.
Councillors then asked several questions and expressed their views regarding the approach being taken by WSCC and their frustration at the lack of progress on this issue over a significant timespan, which has taken several decades.
The Committee then held a wide-ranging discussion that touched on several concerns regarding heritage, drainage, surface finishes and the wider public realm. Discussions continued regarding public concern, reputation of the city, rear entry use of businesses, surveys and feasibility studies.
It was confirmed that the City Council would remain responsible for the street furniture and would be informed of proposed designs and choices as the scheme developed.
After a discussion about costs, budgets and timescales, the committee agreed that they would return to the issue once the initial design proposals were published.
107. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION
CC/23/02917/FUL
Case Officer: Sascha Haigh
Victoria Court 22 St Pancras Chichester West Sussex
Change of use from offices to 5 no. apartments (C3 use) and associated works.
The City Council has no objection to this application.
CC/23/02830/OBG
Case Officer: Joanne Prichard
Graylingwell Hospital College Lane Chichester West Sussex
Non-compliance with clauses 16.6 and 16.8 of Schedule 1 of s106 legal agreement
Objection. The required pedestrian and cycle provision at Westhampnett Road and Oaklands Way remain important for active travel provision and for the safety and amenity of the residents of the Graylingwell Park development. This was approved as a sustainable development, not only in terms of energy but in terms of transport. The provision of a safe and specified route from Oaklands park through the car park should be expedited to optimise the use of the much-needed Oaklands Way crossing, to ensure pedestrians and cyclists have a safe and pleasant route between Graylingwell Park and the city centre as soon as possible, where they can choose to avoid unsafe, on-road junctions and the underpass. The route analysis assumes that residents of Graylingwell will only ever make journeys directly to or from their own homes, and not from place to place within the city as residents tend to do (for example, from their local workplace to educational facilities, to shops, onto places of local entertainment, leisure, or sports facilities, or to visit others’ homes around the city).
CC/23/02748/FUL
Case Officer: Sascha Haigh
Sycamore Close Fordwater Road Chichester West Sussex
Replacement dwelling and associated works.
The City Council has no objection to this application.
108. STREETNAMING APPLICATION
The Town Clerk outlined the issues concerning the application and the objections raised by Royal Mail to the proposals.
The Committee RESOLVED not to proceed with the name change.
109. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN UPDATE
Ash Pal, the Chairman of Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (NPSG) gave an update on the progress in defining the scope of the work required to deliver the plan. Data on PLACE assessments has been collected. The group is now defining the chapter headings and key themes for the Plan. The group estimate that they are approximately 50% of the way through the evidence gathering process.
They hope that some of the evidence and data required will be provided by the work currently being undertaken by Chichester District Council (CDC) as a part of their regeneration strategy. They have also been in talks with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) about data sharing.
Councillor McHale asked how many PLACE assessments had been completed? Mr Pal reported that approximately 9 to 10 and that significant proportion of areas have been covered including at least one in each ward. Some areas are not suitable due to their lack residential housing.
Mr Pal advised that the intention is that CDC will complete the site allocation process as a formal Call for Sites has not been undertaken. If a Call for Sites was to be undertaken, it is a statutory requirement that Chichester City Council (CCC) lead on it as the NPSG are not empowered under the Localism Act (2011) to complete this work.
Councillor McHale asked how the NPSG would manage the workload? Is there any benefit in the work being subcontracted to an external consultant to ensure that it is delivered on time and stays on track? Mr Pal reported that the plan development needs to be community driven, so it is important that it is led by the Steering Group. It was noted by the committee that this approach has not worked in the past.
Mr Pal added that the Steering Group would rather use ad-hoc consultancy support with subject experts being brought in to write the individual chapters and reports.
Councillor McHale commented that formal project management support may be appropriate as the plan has been in development since 2019 and is still not delivered. Councillors felt that there was a need for more direct assistance to ensure the plan continues to progress.
Councillor McHale expressed concern that some of the proposed delivery timescales looked overly optimistic. An example was allocating 5 days for consultants to respond to requests to tender/quote for work.
Councillor Vivian asked what was the benefit of aiming for the 30th June 2025 submission deadline under the current Neighbourhood Plan regulations? Would it be better at this stage to wait and proceed on the revised basis when the new Neighbourhood Plan regulations are announced in the autumn?
Councillor McHale reiterated that the Committee was keen to ensure that there is professional support and leadership to manage the project delivery.
The Committee thanked Mr Pal for his time.
110. REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL BUS SHELTERS IN LAVANT ROAD
The committee considered requests for the installation of bus shelters at the stops as follows:
− south of the junction of Lavant Road and The Drive (inbound route)
− on the opposite side of Lavant Road to the Lavant Road Doctors Surgery (outbound route)
The committee RESOLVED to recommend to the Finance Committee that money be made available from CIL to install two bus shelters with RTPI displays on Lavant Road, outbound & inbound.
111. 20MPH/TRAFFIC WORKING GROUP UPDATE
Councillor Corfield had provided a brief update, advising the committee that following the feedback from WSCC on the unsuccessful 20mph Community Highways Scheme application, a meeting as being arranged with WSCC officers and ward members to better understand the scope and requirements of a future bid, with a view to submitting a revised application later in the year.
112. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED ON THE NEXT AGENDA
- Update on WSCC pavements project
- Neighbourhood Plan update
- Chichester to Bognor travel improvements
- Chichester City regeneration strategy (CDC project)
113. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING
DATE OF THE NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 29 FEBRUARY 2022
The meeting closed at 6:17pm
ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING
No actions arising