Minutes – Planning and Conservation Committee – 17 August 2023
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Planning and Conservation Committee – 17 August 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 – 17 August 2023
PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Minutes
Date: 17 August 2023
Time: 4.00pm – 4.39pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillors Butler (Chairman), Squire and Vivian
EX-OFFICIO: Deputy Mayor (Councillor Corfield), Chairman of the Community Affairs Committee (Councillor Apel) and Chairman of the Finance Committee (Councillor Scicluna)
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Planning Adviser, Council Services and Support Manager
IN ATTENDANCE VIA ZOOM: West Sussex County Councillor Simon Oakley
40. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
RESOLVED to receive and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from the Mayor, Councillor C Gershater, and Councillors Chant and Hitchman.
41. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
The Deputy Mayor and Councillors Apel and Vivian declared an interest as members of the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
Councillor Scicluna declared an interest as the City Council’s representative on the Chichester Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
42. MINUTES OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 20 JULY 2023 AND THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE HELD ON 27 JULY 2023
Noted that Councillors Kondabeka and J Gershater had been present as non-Committee members at the Special Meeting of the Planning and Conservation Committee held on 27 July 2023.
RESOLVED to approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Planning and Conservation Committee meeting held on 20 July 2023 and the minutes of the Special Meeting of the Planning and Conservation Committee held on 27 July 2023.
43. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING NOT COVERED ELSEWHERE ON THE AGENDA
a) City centre pavements (20-07-23 – minute 29 refers)
Members were advised that a letter from West Sussex County Council Highways had been received that morning asking the City Council to contribute towards the cost of a feasibility study in to designing a scheme for the city centre pavements.
The Committee discussed the issue and expressed frustration with the progress of the project.
RESOLVED that the position as agreed at the Meeting of Council held on 22 February 2023 (minute 76 refers) was still applicable, namely that the City Council would contribute funds for the physical work on the pavements but that it would not contribute funds for consultancy work on feasibility studies.
It was AGREED that the Town Clerk would respond to the request from West Sussex County Council and reiterate the City Council’s position on the issue.
b) Active travel in Chichester proposals (20-07-23 – minute 30 refers)
The Planning Adviser informed Members that she had emailed West Sussex County Highways as requested by the Committee regarding the options for the Fishbourne Road East to Westgate scheme.
AGREED that the Planning Adviser would forward on a copy of the email to Members for their awareness.
c) Community Highways Scheme – Bognor Road (27-07-23 – minute 36 refers)
The Planning Adviser informed Members that she had emailed West Sussex County Highways as requested by the Committee regarding the Bognor Road Community Highways Scheme application.
AGREED that the Planning Adviser would forward on a copy of the email to Members for their awareness.
d) Neighbourhood Plan tendering progress (27-07-23 – minute 39 refers)
The Town Clerk advised Members that the Chichester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (CNPSG) were currently assessing how long it would take them to collate the information on the work and evidence that they had completed/gathered to date and what was still outstanding.
She further advised that this information was needed to help define the scope of the outstanding works that would need to be fed in to the tender document and that the process could not proceed until the information had been received from the CNPSG.
44. APPLICATIONS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION
CC/23/01207/FUL and CC/23/01208/LBC
Case Officer: Calum Thomas
Flint House 44 South Street Chichester West Sussex
Change of use of bank (Use Class E[c][i]) to residential (Use Class C3) comprising 4 no. new flats. Removal of spiral staircase to rear and addition of infill staircase extension to rear.
The City Council has no objection to this application.
45. 20MPH DEFAULT WIDE AREA SPEED LIMIT – UPDATE
Members noted that the group would now be called the Traffic Working Group.
The Deputy Mayor informed the Committee that the Community Highways Scheme application for the default city-wide 20MPH speed limit had been submitted and that a decision from West Sussex County Council was awaited.
She thanked all those that had helped with putting the application together.
The Deputy Mayor also expressed concerns about the recent announcement by national Government regarding 20MPH schemes and advised that she was uncertain what impact this might have on the application.
46. AIR QUALITY IN CHICHESTER
The Chairman introduced the item and expressed concerns about the air quality monitoring in the city.
The Committee was advised that the annual air quality reports that Chichester District Council produced were overdue and were not expected to be published until the Autumn.
The Chairman added that, at present, the District Council were not monitoring particulate pollution, which was a concern as this type of pollution could be particularly damaging to health.
Members were informed that the District Council had recently received grant funding from DEFRA for the purchase of a real-time particulate monitor but that they had yet to decide where to deploy the new machine.
Councillor Vivian expressed the opinion that the Traffic Working Group could also discuss this issue. The Deputy Mayor agreed and summarised the link between traffic speeds and pollution levels.
In response to a question from Councillor Squire, the Chairman advised that the new device would be monitoring both the type of particulate and the concentrations of them in the atmosphere.
Post meeting note: Chichester District Council has advised that the particulate monitor should be installed in September, giving continuous monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5 levels from the Stockbridge Roundabout air quality monitoring station.
47. ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE NEXT AGENDA
- Air quality update
- City centre pavements update and the West Sussex County Council timeline for improvement works.
- Traffic Working Group update
- Listed building consents for the Council House
48. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING
DATE OF THE NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 14 SEPTEMBER 2023
Meeting closed at: 4.39pm
ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING
| Minute ref. | Agreed action | Assigned for action to |
| 43a | Respond to request from West Sussex County Council for a contribution to a feasibility study for works on the city centre pavements. | Town Clerk |
| 43b | Forward on a copy of the response that had been sent to West Sussex County Highways regarding the Fishbourne Road East to Westgate scheme. Planning Adviser | Planning Adviser |
| 43c | Forward on a copy of the response that had been sent to West Sussex County Highways regarding the Bognor Road Community Highways Scheme application. | Planning Adviser |