Agenda and minutes

i)              To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 23 July 2019 as published.

ii)             Amendment to Minutes of Meeting on 25^th June 2019

The minutes of this meeting approved by the Committee on 23^rd July 2019 contained a typographical error. This was the inclusion of “2.35m” instead of “2.71m”. The corrected minute is set out below with the change highlighted in bold. The Committee is requested to approve the corrected minutes.

6h.  17 Brewery Lane, Byfleet

The Planning Committee considered a recommendation for an Enforcement Notice for the unauthorised Change Of Use from retail, with ancillary storage to residential use by creating 3 one bedroom flats.

Note 1:  The Planning Officer updated the Committee on changes to recommendation (i) within the report. The recommendation would read as follows:

(i)            Issue an Enforcement Notice in respect of the above land requiring of the remedy of the breach of planning control to be achieved through the cessation of the C3 residential use and restoration of the building known as the workshop to ancillary A1 retail storage within (4) months of the Enforcement Notice taking effect. Restoration works required to the workshop include but are not limited to:-

                       I.               to reinstate the original workshop, including the external appearance and reducing the height of the roof back to the measurements  2.71m within three months; and

                     II.               to regularise the stairway to the first floor.

Councillor Boote, Ward Councillor spoke in support of the Enforcement Notice, mentioning that the development was out of character with the rest of the street scene.

            RESOLVED

            That formal enforcement proceedings be authorised.

RESOLVED that

(i)            the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 July 2019 be approved and signed as a true and correct record; and

(ii)           the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 25 June 2019 be approved as corrected, set out below;

“6h.  17 Brewery Lane, Byfleet

The Planning Committee considered a recommendation for an Enforcement Notice for the unauthorised Change Of Use from retail, with ancillary storage to residential use by creating 3 one bedroom flats.

Note 1:  The Planning Officer updated the Committee on changes to recommendation (i) within the report. The recommendation would read as follows:

(i)         Issue an Enforcement Notice in respect of the above land requiring of the remedy of the breach of planning control to be achieved through the cessation of the C3 residential use and restoration of the building known as the workshop to ancillary A1 retail storage within (4) months of the Enforcement Notice taking effect. Restoration works required to the workshop include but are not limited to:-

                          I.       to reinstate the original workshop, including the external appearance and reducing the height of the roof back to the measurements 2.71m within three months; and

                         II.       to regularise the stairway to the first floor.

Councillor Boote, Ward Councillor spoke in support of the Enforcement Notice, mentioning that the development was out of character with the rest of the street scene.

RESOLVED

That formal enforcement proceedings be authorised.”

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Amanda Boote.

(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.

No declarations of interest were received.

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.

The Committee received a report on the planning appeals lodged and the appeal decisions.

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.

The Committee considered an application for the demolition of the existing garages and the erection of a single storey detached building to be used as a dental surgery (Class D1) with associated landscaping, parking and re-alignment of the existing vehicular access to the highway at Albert Drive.

Following a query from Councillor T Aziz, the Planning Officer explained that there would be low level displacement of vehicles, however this was not expected to have a large impact on the surrounding area. It was anticipated that the vehicles accessing the site would have no greater impact on the immediate neighbours than access to the existing garages.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions set out in the report.

[NOTE 1: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that the block plan on page 37 of the report incorrectly showed the access to the site coming from the North-East across Dinnet Cottage’s land.]

[NOTE 2: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that three additional letters of objection had been received which mainly reiterated the comments already summarised within the representations section of the report. An additional point had been raised regarding the impact on the integrity of a well on a neighbouring property. It was noted that this would be a civil matter and was outside of planning control.]

[NOTE 3: The Planning Officer advised the Committee of an update to Condition 5 as detailed below;

“The windows at first floor level of the north and south elevations of the dwelling at ‘Plot 1’ and the north east elevation of the dwelling at ‘Plot 2’ hereby approved shall be glazed entirely with obscure glass and non-opening unless the parts of the windows which can be opened are more than 1.7 metres above the floor of the rooms in which the windows are installed. Once installed the windows shall be permanently retained in that condition unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

Reason:

To safeguard the amenities of the adjoining properties.”]

The Committee considered an application for the erection of two five bedroom dwellings and garages with associated access and parking following demolition of an existing dwelling and garage.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to conditions and legal agreements set out in the report.

[NOTE: The Planning Officer advised the Committee that since the report had been published a Flood Risk Assessment had been submitted, which had been reviewed by the Council’s Assistant Drainage and Flood Risk Engineer and no objections had been raised.]

The Committee considered an application for the erection of double stacked modular buildings and a workshop building to provide office and staff facilities and maintenance and operation of haulage vehicles as well as the use of the land for parking.

RESOLVED

That the planning application be granted subject to the conditions set out in the report.

The Committee considered a retrospective application for a first floor front porch extension. The applicant was a member of staff at Woking Borough Council and therefore the application fell outside the scope of delegated powers.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions set out in the report.

The Committee considered an application for the erection of a replacement five bedroom dwelling following demolition of the existing dwelling and outbuildings.

Councillor S Ashall explained that he had called this application to the Planning Committee as he did not consider the replacement dwelling to be materially larger and therefore did not support the proposed refusal. He explained that the site was almost completely surrounded by woodland and that not many people would see the dwelling. He considered the design of the replacement dwelling to be in keeping with the prevailing character of the area which included properties of a similar size which had been both extended and demolished/rebuilt. The neighbouring properties were supportive of the application and it was noted the applicant had also worked with the Planning Authority to bring this application forward.

A number of Councillors supported these views and thought that the green belt policies should not be applied strictly in this case due to what they perceived to be a minimal effect on the green belt. The Planning Officer clarified that the only objection from the Planning Authority was regarding the bulk/mass of the proposed dwelling which was an uplift of 52% on floor space and 55% on volume. It was noted that Policy DM13 Development Management Policies DPD stated that ‘As a general rule a replacement building that is no more than 20-40% larger than the one it replaces will not usually be considered to be disproportionate’.

Councillor S Ashall proposed and it was duly seconded by Councillor L Lyons that the application be approved on the grounds that it did not appear materially larger than the existing dwelling and ancillary buildings, it was on a secluded site with a design that was compatible with the prevailing character of the area and that it did not harm the Green Belt area such as to warrant refusal.

In accordance with Standing Order 22.2, the Chairman deemed that a division should be taken on the motion above.  The votes for and against approval of the application were recorded as follows.

In favour:                           Cllrs S Ashall, T Aziz, G W Elson, L S Lyons, S Hussain and N Martin.

                                 TOTAL:  6

Against:                              None

                                 TOTAL:  0

Present but not voting:      Cllrs G G Chrystie (Chairman) and L M N Morales.

                                 TOTAL:  2

The application was therefore approved.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be granted subject to the Planning Committee granting Delegated Authority to the Development Manager to attach a list of conditions and informatives to the planning permission.