Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 12 November 2020

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 12 November 2020

MINUTES OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2020 AT 5.00PM

PRESENT:

• Councillor Joy (Chairman)
• Councillor Bowden (Vice-Chairman)
• Councillor Bell
• Councillor Gaskin
• Councillor Turbefield

EX-OFFICIO:

• The Mayor (Councillor Plowman)
• The Deputy Mayor (Councillor J Hughes)
• Councillor Apel (Chairman of Community Affairs)
• Councillor Scicluna (Chairman of Finance)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE:

• Councillor Sharp
• Planning Adviser
• Mayoral/Administrator Assistant
• West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley
• Dr Linda Boize (for item 9)

67. MINUTES OF MEETING OF COMMITTEE HELD ON 15 OCTOBER 2020

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2020 having been printed and circulated be approved and be signed by the Chairman as a correct record at a later date.

68. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

There were no apologies for absence received from members of the Committee.

69. UPDATE FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES

Any actions arising from the previous Minutes were included on the Agenda

70. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

The Mayor and Councillors Apel and Bowden as members of Chichester District Council, declared a Personal Interest. The Mayor and Councillor Scicluna as members of the CCAAC, declared a Personal Interest.

71. A27 – NOISE BLIGHT

There was a member of the public present for this item and the Chairman therefore took this item next.

The Chairman welcomed Dr Linda Boize to the meeting and invited her to address the Committee. Councillor Bell commented that he had been working with Dr Boize on this matter and pointed out that the Police had not heard this issue being raised by Parish Councils. Councillor Bell therefore asked if Councillor Apel, as Chairman, could highlight this issue at the Community Affairs Committee as Police representatives were usually in attendance.

The Chairman asked for clarification and Councillor Bell said that with the absence of traffic on the A27 this had resulted in motorcyclists using the road as a racetrack during the night and that this had continued even after lockdown had eased.

There was also a problem on the feeder roads from Midhurst and Petworth and groups had been established north of the Downs to try to address this. Councillor Bell commended the work of Dr Boize in liaising with the Police locally, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the newly-appointed Chief Constable about this.

Dr Boize referred to her paper which had been previously circulated to members. She said that she had given representations, together with other local residents, which had resulted in a meeting with Chief Inspector Jon Carter and another Southern Gateway resident and that the Police were now fully aware of the situation. In her contacts with various Councils she had established a meeting on 28 October with representatives of West Sussex County Council, the Whyke Residents Association and a Donnington Parish Council representative.

The next step was that the ‘Motorcyle noice and anti-social riding Task Force’ originally set up by Fittleworth, which focused on the A272, should be re-convened and extend its invitations to participants from south of the Downs – a Councillor meeting. She expressed concern that this issue appeared to have received little support. Dr Boize sought attendees for the next Task Force meeting, and said that registration of attendance details were given on her briefing paper.

The Chairman asked about speed restrictions on the A27 and was advised that this had been discussed and that the Community Speedwatch handheld devices were only for 40mph. The Chairman suggested that average speed cameras could be explored. Councillor Bell mentioned acoustic cameras. He also thanked Councillors Sharp and Scicluna for their support with this matter.

Noise monitoring equipment at Goodwood had been enquired of. The Mayor said that Goodwood had a sophisticated built-in system and also handheld noise guns for which the track noise was measured.

The Mayor and Councillor Bowden said that they would be willing to attend the Task Force meeting. Dr Boize emphasised that more than moral support was now necessary. Independent Agencies, ie: West Sussex County Council, Highways England amongst others operating the A27 made it more difficult to install average speed limit cameras. Dr Boize had asked the local MP to follow this up with Highways England.

The Chairman mentioned that it might be possible to include this in the Neighbourhood Plan as a Policy. The Planning Adviser said that an infrastructure project might be possible.

The Mayor said that the issue of noise was not limited to the A27 and that this matter could be further discussed at the Task Force meeting.
Councillor Sharp expressed her wish to attend the Task Force meeting also. She also mentioned screening as a consideration to reduce the noise impact.

Dr Boize enquired whether an alternative approach might be considered, however, the Mayor said that he wanted to monitor the Task Force meeting prior to taking this forward.

Councillor Gaskin said that she was not familiar with noise abatement legislation and ultimately, she felt that this might be a legislative matter for the local Police.

Dr Boize mentioned acoustic monitoring devices used by other councils, but it was noted that these were expensive; however Chichester Police were investigating this.

Dr Boize welcomed the proposal for another meeting to take place later in the year to follow up on the actions from the 28 October 2020 meeting.

The Chairman thanked Dr Boize for attending and contributing to the meeting.

72. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION

Week 41 – 7 October 2020

CC/20/02254/FUL – Case Officer: William Price

Chichester College Avenue De Chartres Chichester PO19 1SB
Creation of an athletics training track, warm-up area, floodlighting and fencing.

Chichester City Council supports this application for a much needed sports facility to serve the college and the local community.

CC/20/02473/REM – Case Officer: Steve Harris

Vistry Southern
Land On The West Side Of Broyle Road Chichester West Sussex
All outstanding Reserved Matters for the erection of 53 dwellings with associated parking, landscaping, informal open space and associated work on Phase 5, Parcel G, pursuant to permission 14/04301/OUT.

Chichester City Council Strongly object on the following basis: No outdoor amenity space is given to the occupants of the flats, many of whom will be children. The parking area behind the townhouses has poor natural surveillance and may attract anti-social behaviour, as such it does not meet “secure by design” aims. Triple parking into garages will reduce spaces actually used for parking and possibly lead to local parking problems. It is not clear whether the development meets the developer’s target of 19% improvement over basic building regulations sustainability requirements across the site but the number of solar panels provided is low and there doesn’t appear to be confirmation that every property will have provision to charge an electric vehicle.

Week 42 – 14 October 2020

No committee items.

Week 43 – 21 October 2020

CC/20/02530/FUL – Case Officer: William Price

Mrs Julia Potter
Land At Royal Close Chichester West Sussex
Construction of 5 no. 1-bedroom elderly persons flats together with reconfigured car parking and the installation of replacement doors and windows on existing flats at Royal Close, Whyke.

Recommendation: No objection subject to confirmation that the window facing the eastern flank of block G is not the only window serving the main living area. It is requested that the window frames are not UPVC, as this may impact the adjacent conservation area.

Week 44 – 28 October 2020

No committee items however Councillor Scicluna raised the following application:

CC/20/02631/FUL – Case Officer: William Price

Ellerslie House 73 St Pauls Road Chichester PO19 3DD
Replacement of timber stained glass window with UPVC window on first floor landing in the common way of the building.

RESOLVED that the Planning Advisor be requested to submit a delegated response to the application, and to request that the building be added to the Local List.

73. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – UPDATE ON PROGRESS

The Planning Adviser said that she was no longer working on the Neighbourhood Plan but had finished off some of the projects. This included a background paper on highways issues which was published on Monday 9 November alongside a survey asking residents which highways option they supported for the city centre and southern gateway area.

The results of the consultant reports on the physical feasibility of the underpass and the report on traffic movements were included within the background paper, alongside a summary of the existing situation, CDC’s preferred options for highways changes, and two new options introduced within the highways background paper responding to the Vision’s aspiration of improving the public realm and the pedestrian experience in the area between the train station and the city centre, and to respond to the initial survey wherein support was expressed for an underpass and for re-routing traffic out of the city centre. The survey would be open until 15 December 2020, and this would determine whether there was sufficient public interest in pursuing the new options further with WSCC and CDC, who would be the bodies implementing the scheme, if it was to go forward.

A background paper was also published on the Bishop Luffa/White House Farm Land Swap idea, whereby a new all-through school (ages 4-18) could be provided on the White House Farm Site, both to replace the existing Bishop Luffa school and to provide the required new primary school for White House Farm. The existing Bishop Luffa school site would then be developed for housing and this would fund the build. Again, a survey was published to establish residents’ views on the proposal and this runs from 9 November to 15 December 2020. The Planning Adviser said that the developer would need to put this scheme forward as a planning application, it could not be delivered solely through the Neighbourhood Plan. However, the Plan could help to bring the scheme forward by providing greater certainty to the developer of the scheme’s acceptability in planning terms, if this is supported by local residents.

The Mayor would now be political lead for the Neighbourhood Plan, with Neighbourhood Plan specialist consultant Richard Eastham taking the Steering Group through the necessary process to the point of producing a draft plan for submission. The next Steering Group meeting would be on 11 December 2020.

The Chairman commended the excellent work of the Planning Adviser on the Neighbourhood Plan.

The Chairman expressed concern at the current make-up of the Steering Group and the lack of officer presence within the group which had been very useful to date. The Chairman and the Mayor agreed to discuss this further.

Councillor Bowden mentioned the school land swap item and said that there could be opposition to this because of the additional housing involved; and felt it was very important to encourage responses to the consultation.

Councillor Bell mentioned the Scouts could benefit from the land swap if the developers could give them some more land and/or a new building.

Further to Finance Committee being notified of the change of the Neighbourhood Plan structure (20 October 2020, minute 74 refers) it is RECOMMENDED to Full Council on 2 December 2020 that the Neighbourhood Plan Specialist Consultant Richard Eastham take the Steering Group through the necessary process of producing a draft plan for submission, and that Neighbourhood Planning specialists Consultants Feria Urbanism Limited take on the running of the project.

74. WHITEHOUSE FARM – FEEDBACK

The Mayor said that a meeting would be arranged with the developers and the school in the next two weeks to discuss the land swap. A meeting would also be arranged with the Paula Chatfield (Tree Warden) to familiarise her with the benefits of the scheme.

The Mayor mentioned the chalk stream which he said was causing great concern as construction work had caused overflow and contamination at the chalk stream. He then showed visual details which demonstrated how straw bales had been used to try to alleviate this but this had proved inadequate. The Mayor said he would be writing a letter to developers on behalf of the west of Chichester.

Phase 2 was still no further forward and the issue was the southern relief access road for which little progress had been made on determining the route this would take.

Councillor Bell referred to the non-inclusion of a medical centre which he reiterated was a decision from the medics who had not thought this was not necessary as Parklands Surgery could be expanded.

The Chairman said that he would be meeting with Sports England to discuss a possible track and an all-weather pitch.

Councillor Gaskin mentioned light pollution and the effect on the environment regarding floodlighting. The Planning Adviser said that she had investigated this. A dark skies policy could be introduced through the Neighbourhood Plan, however this would need to be evidence based and would only cover the appropriate areas, not areas where there are existing floodlit sports pitches, such as at the college. The floodlighting application supported by members earlier in this meeting featured directed floodlights to minimise light spill and ensure the light was focussed only along the running pitch as far as possible.

75. TRACTORS AND TRAILERS GOING THROUGH CHICHESTER

The Mayor referred to a recent meeting held with representatives of the NFU, farmers, landowners and managers to discuss this issue at which the District Commander for Arun and Chichester and WSCC Highways were also attendees. He said that the meeting had been very useful in raising awareness and had been very beneficial. The notes of the meeting had been circulated to all attendees.

Councillor Bowden, referring to the notes, said that he welcomed the idea of a scheme to identify trailers as currently there was no scheme in place and that the driver of the tractor could not be identified. The Mayor said that the NFU would be taking this forward and that he would follow this up in the new year.

The Mayor added that training of drivers to enable them to familiarise themselves with the local area was also welcomed.

76. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED ON THE NEXT AGENDA

• Local Plan – distribution of development

77. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday 10 December 2020.

RESOLVED that the start time of future Planning Committees be 5.00pm for the remainder of the Council year.

The meeting closed at 6.45pm