Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 16 January 2018 as published.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 16 January 2018 be approved and signed as a true and correct record.

Apologies of absence were received from Councillor T Aziz and Councillor S Hussain.

(i)    To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary and other interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

(ii)   In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, any Member who is a Council- appointed Director of a Thameswey Group company will declare a non-pecuniary interest in any item involving that Thameswey Group company. The interest will not prevent the Member from participating in the consideration of that item.

(iii)   In accordance with the Officer Procedure Rules, any Officer who is a Council- appointed Director of a Thameswey Group company will declare an interest in any item involving that Thameswey Group company. The interest will not prevent the Officer from advising the Committee on that item.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business that the Chairman rules may be dealt with under Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

Resolved

That the report be noted.

The Committee determined the following applications subject to the conditions, informatives, reasons for refusal or authorisation of enforcement action which appear in the published report to the Committee or as detailed in these minutes.

(NOTE 1: In accordance with the procedure for public speaking at Planning Committee, Mr Nuweed Razaq attended the meeting and spoke in objection to the application and Mr Toby Hoyle spoke in support.]

[NOTE 2: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that one additional letter of objection had been received which mainly reiterated the comments already summarised within the representations section of the report.]

[NOTE 3: The Committee were advised of an amendment to Condition 4 as detailed below;

Notwithstanding any details shown on the approved plans listed within condition 02, prior to commencement of the development hereby approved, a hard and soft landscaping scheme showing details of shrubs, trees and hedges to be planted and details of materials for areas of hardstanding, shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out and thereafter retained in accordance with the approved details unless otherwise first agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority. All landscaping shall be carried out in accordance with the approved scheme in the first planting season (November-March) following the occupation of the buildings or the completion of the development (in that phase) whichever is the sooner and maintained thereafter. Any retained or newly planted  trees, shrubs or hedges  which die, become seriously damaged or diseased or are removed or destroyed  within a period of 5 years from the date of planting shall be replaced during the next planting season with specimens of the same size and species unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

Reason: To preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the locality in accordance with Policies CS21 and CS24 of the Woking Core Strategy 2012.]

The Committee considered an application for the demolition of an existing two storey retail building and ancillary buildings (A1) and the erection of a two storey building comprising seven self contained flats (C3) (three one-bedroom and four two-bedroom) with ancillary facilities and new vehicular access. The proposed flats would have vehicular access from Royal Oak Road and pedestrian access from Triggs Lane.   

Councillor Mrs H Addison, Ward Councillor, had called the application to the Planning Committee for consideration due to concerns including over-development of the site, mass, bulk and scale and parking close to the Triggs Lane junction. Councillor Mrs H Addison spoke in objection to the application and in addition to the above, also raised concerns over reduction of light and overshadowing of neighbouring properties.

Some Members of the Committee were supportive of the concerns raised by Councillor Mrs H Addison, particularly with the issues around parking which they thought would exacerbate existing problems on Royal Oak Road and Triggs Lane. It was noted that the provision of parking for the application was in line with the Council’s current Parking Policy. Following a query, the Planning Officer confirmed that Condition 10 addressed concerns regarding visibility at the junction due to the parking.

Other Members of the Committee thought that the proposal represented an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6a

[NOTE 1: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that one additional letter of objection had been received, which stated the fence would be an eyesore and commented on the Council’s involvement in the project. The objector also raised concern that trees would be removed; it was confirmed by the Planning Officer that they would not.]

[NOTE 2: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that forty-two additional letters of support had been received which mainly reiterated the comments already summarised within the representations section of the report.]

[NOTE 3: The Planning Officer advised the Committee of an amendment to Condition 1, which should refer to the conventional three year time limit.]

The Committee considered an application that sought full planning permission for the erection of additional secure fence to school boundary, landscaping revisions and minor works within car park area.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to conditions.

The Committee considered a full planning application for the erection of a replacement dwelling following demolition of existing dwelling with associated landscaping and ancillary works.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to recommended conditions.

[NOTE: The Committee was advised of an additional Condition as set out below;

The development hereby permitted shall not be commenced until a construction methodology statement has been submitted to and approved in writing by the LPA which shall demonstrate how the development shall be constructed so as to minimise disturbance to neighbouring properties.

Reason: In the interest of protecting general amenity in accordance with Policy CS21 of the Woking Core Strategy 2012.]

The Committee considered an application which sought permission to erect a two storey front extension, a first floor replacement side addition, extension of the existing ground floor side element and installation of pitched roof over with internal layout alterations.

The application was deferred at the Planning Committee Meeting on the 14 November 2017 to seek clarification in relation to the position of the northern boundary between the application property and Foxley House. Following this deferral the Council commissioned an independent chartered building surveyor to gather any evidence that was deemed appropriate to establish the most plausible position of the boundary. The conclusions were summarised in the application report. It was noted that as the proposed development fell within the red line as outlined on the plans, any dispute over its accuracy would be a civil issue and would not be regarded as a material planning consideration for the purposes of the application. If approved, Informative 6 stated that Planning permission did not convey the right to enter onto or build on land that was not within the applicant’s ownership.

Councillor A Azad proposed and it was duly seconded that the application be refused on the grounds that the proposed development would, by further concentrating the massing of the built form towards the north-eastern corner of the plot, fail to preserve the character of the Hook Heath area contrary to Policy BE1 of the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan.

Discussion ensued on the proposal to refuse the application. 

Following a point of order it was clarified by the Head of Democratic and Legal Services that although the item was deferred on 14 November 2017 to allow for an independent boundary survey to be commissioned, on this occasion it did not prohibit the Committee from discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the application further.

The Development Manager advised Members that the motion for refusal may be difficult to defend at Appeal as the Planning Officers view was that this was a modest extension that would cause little harm to the neighbouring property or surrounding area.

Some Councillors thought that the proposal would actually enhance the current property and as demonstrated in the presentation slides the recessed nature of the window in the proposed extension meant that the views from the extension into the neighbouring property would be more restricted than those already obtainable from the existing first floor bedroom window.

In accordance with Standing Order 10.8, the Chairman deemed that a division should be taken on the motion above.  The votes for and against refusal of the application were recorded  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6d

The Committee considered withdrawal of a planning enforcement notice relating to the erection of a single storey outbuilding in the rear garden at 116 Princess Road, Maybury, Woking, GU22 8ES.

RESOLVED

That Enforcement Notice reference No.ENF/2016/00154 (EO645) issued on 4 December 2017 be withdrawn as the outbuilding now measures a height of 2.48m at the highest point of the structure and is therefore now covered under Permitted Development and does not require Planning Permission.