Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 15 October 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 – 15 October 2020
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MINUTES OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE HELD ON THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER 2020 AT 2.00PM
PRESENT:
- Councillors Bowden (Vice-Chairman) and Gaskin
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:
- Planning Adviser, Mayoral/Administrator Assistant, West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley, Dr Ian and Mrs Lynne Friel (for CC/20/01914/FUL)
APOLOGIES:
- Councillors Bell and Joy
ABSENT:
- Councillor Turbefield
Councillor Joy (Chairman) had given apologies for this meeting, therefore Councillor Bowden, as Vice-Chairman, took the Chair.
55. MINUTES OF MEETING OF COMMITTEE HELD ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2020 having been printed and circulated be approved and be signed by the Vice-Chairman as a correct record at a later date.
56. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
As recorded above, these apologies were accepted by the Committee.
57. UPDATE FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES
Any actions arising from the previous Minutes were included on the Agenda
58. 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 as a member of the CCAAC, declared a Personal Interest.
59. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION
The Chairman requested that due to the attendance of two members of the public that this item be taken next.
Week 38 – 16 September 2020
CC/20/01914/FUL – Case Officer: Jane Thatcher
St James Industrial Estate Westhampnett Road Chichester West Sussex
Redevelopment of the existing industrial estate, including demolition of the existing buildings. The scheme provides approximately 4448m2 (47877ft) of lettable industrial space all under B1b, B1c and B8 use classes with 5 no. replacement buildings.
Dr Ian Friel and Mrs Lynne Friel were in attendance and were invited by the Chairman to address the Committee.
Dr Friel had submitted slides in support of his objection which were shown to members. Dr Friel mentioned that his objections were in line with those of the Westhampnett Road and Church Road Residents Associations. Noise, fumes and smells would be a major concern., He said that the building was out of scale with the area, was twice the height of the existing buildings on the estate and would be overlooking surrounding gardens. The design was basic and this was a large factory in what was essentially a residential area.
Mrs Friel said that a Town Planner had been employed to look at this and had obtained the pre-app document. Landscaping was mentioned in the pre-app and Mrs Friel was concerned about some of the trees which she felt would be damaged by lorries catching them. It was noted that the noise and acoustic report had not been supplied.
Mrs Friel advised the Committee that she had more details if members required them.
The Chairman thanked Dr and Mrs Friel for their comments.
Councillor Scicluna joined the meeting.
After some debate, it was RESOLVED to raise an Objection on the basis of the scale and height of the central building and its impact on the character and amenity of the area, exacerbated by the lack of good quality landscaping and tree planting and the removal of the brick wall to be replaced with wire fencing. Further objection on the basis of the reduction in provision of small units for start-up businesses.
CC/20/01373/FUL – Case Officer: William Price
Chichester City FC Management Ltd
Oaklands Park, Chichester City Football Club Oaklands Way Chichester PO19 6AR
Erection of a new covered stand, installation of a container type tea bar and alterations to fencing.
No objection
CC/20/02088/FUL and CC/20/02089/LBC – Case Officer: Vicki Baker
44 North Street Chichester PO19 1NF
Change of use of existing building from Office Use (B1 Use Class) to 3 No. 2-bedroom flats (Use Class C3) and storage at basement level. Removal of door to rear elevation and replacement windows.
No objection subject to the advice of the Historic Buildings Officer on the internal layout changes.
CC/20/02183/LBC and CC/20/02182/FUL – Case Officer: Calum Thomas
60 North Street Chichester PO19 1NB
Conversion of vacant area of retail storage and vacant area of office to C3 dwelling, including internal and external alterations.
No objection
Week 39 – 23 September 2020
CC/20/02322/ADV – Case Officer: Steve Harris
Miller Homes & Vistry Homes
Land On The West Side Of Broyle Road Chichester PO19 3PH
Erection of 2 no. non-illuminated V signage boards and 4 no. non-illuminated flag advertisements.
Recommendation: Concern was raised over the proliferation of flags in this area and their cumulative impact on the character and amenity of the area. However, the city council would have no objection to the application should the number of flags at the entrance of the application be reduced from four to 2, subject to a condition requiring removal of all flags and signage upon completion of sale or first occupation (whichever comes first) of all the residential plots within the parcel site.
Week 40 – 30 September 2020
CC/20/02341/ADV – Case Officer: Steve Harris
Mr Robert Collett
Land On The West Side Of Broyle Road Chichester West Sussex
Non-illuminated signage for Parcel P2.A Sales Centre. 1 x double sided sign (Parcel entrance), 7 x double sided signs, 2 x single sided signs and 5 x flags.
No objection
CC/20/02342/ADV – Case Officer: Calum Thomas
Kokoro UK Ltd
81 North Street Chichester PO19 1LQ
Installation of 1 no. non-illuminated fascia sign.
Objection due to the inappropriate materials proposed, featuring powder coated metal lettering. No objection should appropriate materials be substituted with hand painted timber fascia and lettering. In order to help members of the public orientate themselves around the city, could the building number please be included on the frontage.
CC/20/02379/ADV – Case Officer: Steve Harris
Land On The West Side Of Broyle Road Chichester West Sussex
Erection of 2 no. non-illuminated flag pole advertisements and 1 no. non-illuminated Tri-set sign in connection with Phase 2B Sales Centre
No objection subject to a condition requiring removal upon completion of sale or first occupation (whichever comes first) of all the residential plots within the parcel site.
CC/20/02411/ADV – Case Officer: Maria Tomlinson
Timothy Oulton
7 West Street Chichester PO19 1QF
Replacement of 1 no. fascia sign.
Objection due to the inappropriate materials. No objection should appropriate materials be substituted with hand painted timber fascia and lettering. In order to help members of the public orientate themselves around the city, could the building number please be included on the frontage.
60. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – UPDATE ON PROGRESS
The Planning Adviser updated the Committee on the following:
The HELAA (Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment) document and the cycling consultation had recently been produced by CDC, providing useful background information. Reports commissioned for the Neighbourhood Plan relating to potential highway and route changes in the city centre had just been received and the Planning Adviser was completing a consultation document on this.
The Trees and Green Spaces study document was imminently due, a draft had been seen and changes requested to ensure all relevant matters were covered and a high-level action plan was included.
The draft evidence document relating to the residents’ recently updated Summersdale Character Appraisal had also been received and an amendment requested to ensure sufficiently robust evidence relating to Lavant Road was included, and draft policy wording offered. Once the evidence document is completed, the Summersdale Character Appraisal can be further updated with relevant extracts from it, including the policy and a request can be made that Chichester District Council adopt the document, although with their focus on the Local Plan, this may well not occur before the Neighbourhood Plan is adopted. However, the policies can be included in the Neighbourhood Plan.
Discussion is also ongoing with a consultant to provide a robust zero carbon viability study as evidence for a policy requiring new housing to be carbon neutral.
The Planning Adviser said that she would not now be working on the Neighbourhood Plan, but the consultant, Feria Urbanism, would be undertaking this instead. To date, the Planning Adviser had been managing the process, allocating tasks and commissioning works through a number of different specialist consultants, including Feria, and co-ordinating the Neighbourhood Planning process. Now that those tasks and studies are completed or nearing completion, and the evidence base is filling out, the Planning Adviser had asked Neighbourhood Planning specialists Feria to take on the running of the project, which should streamline the process. This would now be considered for approval by the Finance Committee.
The Mayor said that he had also stepped back as Chairman and that an independent Chairman had been taken on. The Mayor was confident of a good Neighbourhood Plan by the end of next year. He mentioned that the Steering Group had a new structure, with groups focussed on policy, technical issues and community engagement, and encouraged Councillors to volunteer to join the Group to ensure good representation for residents.
The Chairman asked the Mayor for clarification of the new Chairman of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee. The Mayor confirmed this was Robin Hamilton who had been a member on the original steering group and had a wealth of knowledge to offer in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan.
The Planning Adviser was thanked for all her sterling work in connection with the production of Neighbourhood Plan.
61. WHITEHOUSE FARM – FEEDBACK
The Mayor updated members as follows:
The Infrastructure Steering Group had discussed West Street and the Westgate roundabout, and agreement had been reached to pursue a “Dutch style” roundabout to give priority to pedestrians and cyclists. Traffic measures for Westgate and the end of Sherborne Road were also required by a Section 106 agreement. The main issue was the roundabout between the Avenue de Chartres and Westgate.
There had been a meeting of the Residents Liaison Group. The developers said they were planning to start a consultation on Section 5, relating to the community centre of the development, which was planning to include facilities such as shops, the community hall and the primary school.
The southern access road was still a major issue. The Chairman reported that the developers had said the access road would be built to the updated standards for cycling and walking, with cycle lane provision separate from pedestrian provision. Access would be required to cross Centurion Way and be routed through Bishop Luffa school.
The Mayor commented on the work being undertaken on the land swap proposal being championed by Councillor Joy. Developers were in discussion with the Bishop Luffa School about this.
The Planning Adviser showed members the latest proposed land swap plan for the school. The area of land in the centre of the site, within the “community centre” area, which was to be the primary school site would be used for an all-weather 3g football field with 400m running track around it (or similar sports pitch), which would otherwise have been provided at the south of the site, adjacent to the already approved sports pitches. The area freed up, surrounded by sports pitches could then be used to build a new “all-through” school, accommodating Bishop Luffa high school pupils as well as primary school pupils, who would have shared use of all the surrounding sports pitches, as well as brand new, up-to-date school facilities to replace the existing school which is in a poor state of repair. The land the school is currently on would then be available to build around 300 houses, which would fund the building of the all-through school.
Council Apel mentioned Centurion Way, the country park, and the area of reptile and wildlife habitat to the far south of the site. It was confirmed that, although earlier iterations of the plan may have affected other parts of the development, the latest proposal as set out by the Planning Adviser would not affect either Centurion Way or the country park; only the primary school site and a sports pitch would be affected within the Whitehouse Farm development site, alongside the existing Bishop Luffa site (which is outside of Whitehouse Farm) being developed for housing.
The Planning Adviser’s illustrative plan, showing the relocated sports pitch (blue), an indicative school building (orange) based on a three-storey design with separate sports hall building and parking, and an indicative southern access route (grey) is attached to the minutes for ease of reference.
62. TRACTORS AND TRAILERS GOING THROUGH CHICHESTER
The Mayor said that contact had been made with West Sussex County Council and also representatives of the National Farmers Union (NFU) with a view to arranging a Summit to discuss the various issues surrounding tractors and trailers going through Chichester. Chief Inspector Jon Carter had expressed a wish to attend the Summit and had been asked to provide his availability prior to the summit being arranged. This would give a good insight into the identification of the vehicles. Councillor Apel said that tractors stopping outside the One Stop Shop in St Paul’s Road was an issue.
RESOLVED to note the current situation.
Post Meeting Note: A virtual meeting has been arranged with NFU representatives for Tuesday 3 November 2020 at 10.30am. West Sussex County Council’s Traffic Engineer and Chief Inspector Jon Carter have been invited to attend.
63. CHICHESTER LOCAL PLAN REVIEW – HOUSING AND ECONOMIC LAND AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT 2020
The Planning Adviser said that the Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) 2020 has now been published and was available to view on the District Council’s website at https://www.chichester.gov.uk/article/29759/Housing-and-Economic-Land-Availability-Assessment
The Planning Adviser then gave members a brief explanation of the document with the aid of a visual plan and said the more detail could be obtained by accessing the link mentioned above.
The Mayor commented on some aspects of the HELAA and hoped that the Bishop Luffa School would be included.
64. TIME OF THE PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Chairman had made a request that, due to his work commitments, it was difficult for him to attend the Planning Committee during the day and he had requested that the Planning Committee be held during the evening – ie: 5.30pm as previously. The Vice-Chairman said that the Chairman’s valuable knowledge was an important factor to consider when discussing this. This was supported by members. It was therefore suggested that an approach be made to the Chairman to ascertain his preferred time and day of the week before making a decision. The Planning Adviser would do this for report back to the next meeting of the Committee.
RESOLVED that the Planning Adviser take the necessary action for report back to the next meeting of the Committee.
65. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED ON THE NEXT AGENDA
- Neighbourhood Plan – update
- White House Farm – update
- To agree the day and time of the Planning Committee
66. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
To be advised.
The meeting closed at 3.56pm.