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Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Council Chamber, County Hall, Rhadyr, Usk, NP15 1GA

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Mark of Respect

Minutes:

Before commencing the meeting the Planning Committee stood in silence as a mark of respect for the victims of the terror attack that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

3.

Application DM/2018/01050 - Residential development of up to 111 dwellings, new vehicular access from Monmouth Road and emergency vehicle access to Station Road, public open space and associated landscaping, engineering and infrastructure works. Land Development off Monmouth Road, Raglan, Monmouthshire pdf icon PDF 523 KB

Minutes:

We considered the report of the application which was recommended for approval subject to the conditions outlined in the report and subject to the Unilateral Undertaking with heads of terms as previously agreed by Planning Committee in November 2019.

 

The application has been called-in by Welsh Government and is therefore no longer before the Council to determine.  However, the application is re-presented to the Planning Committee to consider due to the data error on housing completions against Local Development Plan (LDP) targets, included in the 20th September 2018 Council report and duplicated in the 6th November 2018 Planning Committee report for this item. The Committee was invited to consider the application afresh.  In addition, the application has been reviewed against Planning Policy Wales 10 (PPW10), with particular regard to the sustainable transport hierarchy which is updated in national planning policy published since the Committee considered the application in November 2018. 

 

The proposed development would make a contribution to the Authority’s housing land availability shortfall and housing delivery shortfall.  The 35% affordable housing would help address the significant affordability challenge facing communities, including the high level of affordable housing need throughout the County, including the local need in Raglan.  The proposal is considered to comply with the 11 ground rules agreed by Council on 21st February 2019 and it is considered to accord with the policies set out in PPW10.  It is recommended that Planning Committee confirms its in-principle support for the proposed development to inform the Council’s position at the call-in appeal, and similarly that it notes and endorses the position regarding the sustainable transport hierarchy. 

 

The local Member for Raglan attended the meeting by invitation of the Chair and outlined the following points:

 

·         The local Member supports the LDP plan led process and supports the provision of affordable housing.

 

·         However, the proposed application for 111 houses in Raglan is contrary to the LDP in its timing, scale and location. There are better options available to provide affordable housing such as smaller, more sustainable developments.

 

·         Regarding affordable housing, ground rule 7 deals with the location of new developments. 

 

·         The issue regarding the lack of housing land in Monmouthshire is due to strategic housing allocations and are being developed far slower than predicted.

 

·         The Council has owned sites that have not yet been developed, e.g. the site in Raglan for 45 houses, which does have a 35% affordable housing ratio.

 

·         Due to viability issues, the affordable housing contributions are sometimes reduced from 35% or 25% reducing the numbers of affordable housing properties per development.

 

·         Ground rule 8 requires that the size and mix of the proposed dwelling is both suitable for the location and seeks to address the demographic challenges. The Council report of the 21st February 2019 stated that the ground rule was complied with.  However, the local Member disagrees, as the issue will not be addressed until the reserved matters stage.  The Council report had also stated that the housing would not be reserved for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.