Agenda item

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

The committee considered an application for the erection of a building of up to five storeys comprising fifty four one-bedroom and two-bedroom extra care apartments (Use Class C2) with ancillary and communal facilities and provision of landscaping, bin and cycle storage, parking, highway works, access and associated works following demolition of existing buildings.

Councillor M Whitehand, Ward Councillor, commented that she was disappointed with the Planning Officers’ recommendation for refusal. Councillor M Whitehand thought that development of the site would be positive as it was currently derelict which caused a number of problems. Although it was situated in the Green Belt, Councillor M Whitehand did not think the development of the site would have a harmful effect on the Green Belt; with the trees remaining in place on the curtilage of the site, it would still appear a green/wooded area. Councillor M Whitehand’s opinion was that the reasons for refusal listed in the report did not carry sufficient weight for refusal and thought it would be possible to overcome the issues relating to parking and bin storage.

Some Members agreed with the Ward Councillors view that there should perhaps be an exception with regards to this development as it had very few objections lodged and would provide another Care Home facility in the Borough. The Planning Officer commented that the provision of care facilities within the Borough could not be considered a ‘special circumstance’ as Surrey County Council had been clear that Woking were currently meeting their need for extra care.

A number of Members supported the Planning Officers recommendation to refuse the application and considered it to be inappropriate development; The proposed development was within a designated green belt area, was materially larger than the dwelling it would replace and it was not in a location that had been identified for development in the Site Allocation DPD. Planning Policy provided strict criteria regarding development in the Green Belt and some Members thought that this would set a worrying precedent for Green Belt development and that there were no special circumstance here to warrant approval.

Following further discussion, Thomas James, Development Manager, advised the Committee that if they were minded to approve the application, then they would need to very clearly articulate how the four reasons for refusal had been overcome. This would be important as the application would subsequently need to be referred to the Secretary of State for approval. The Planning Officers opinion was that there were no special circumstance with this application that could outweigh the significant harm to the Green Belt. The LPA was not against development of the site, but this was not considered to be a suitable proposal.

Following a query regarding the provision of bins and this being a reason for refusal, the Planning Officer confirmed that the site was so constrained that there was not enough space for communal bins.

Comparisons had been made to the parking issues at other care home facilities in the Borough and it was noted that these examples could not be taken into consideration as they had been agreed before the current parking policy was in place.

The majority of Members agreed that the derelict site was in a very poor state, but did not consider this reason enough to approve the application.

RESOLVED

That planning permission be REFUSED.