Agenda and minutes

Before commencing proceedings the Chair, on behalf of the Planning Committee, paid tribute to the late County Councillor David Dovey who had recently passed away.  As a mark of respect, the Planning Committee held a minute’s silence.

None received.

The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 5^th January 2021 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

We considered the report of the application and late correspondence which was

recommended for approval subject to the 10 conditions outlined in the report and subject to a Section 106 Agreement.

The application was originally reported to the Council's Delegation Panel on the 22nd July 2020. Following consideration of the report the Panel resolved to approve the application subject to the applicant entering into a Section 106 Agreement to secure a commuted sum to be used for affordable housing.

During the processing of the legal agreement, a public objection had been received. This related to construction works which had already commenced and raised concerns that the development was not being built in accordance with the proposed plans and was closer than that specified as part of the original report. The objector stated that this resulted in an increased level of overshadowing and overlooking to the detriment of amenity.

During discussions the objector had specified that they had not been made aware of the application. Based on the records kept it was noted that a direct neighbour notification was sent to the objector’s property and a site notice was erected on the lamppost closest to their dwelling on the 7th January 2020. The objector has maintained that the letter had not been received. 

As a result of the objection, site visits were conducted on 11th and 22nd December 2020 where measurements were taken between the property under construction and the objector’s dwelling. During these inspections it was noted that the dwelling under construction maintains a distance in excess of 21m between habitable room windows and that a close boarded, timber fence 1.8m in height has been erected between the objector’s property and the dwellings under construction. However, it was also noted that vegetation within the development site, adjacent to the boundary with the objector, had been removed.

In light of the new objection being received prior to the Section 106 Agreement being completed, the application was returned to the Council’s Delegation Panel on 13th January 2021 for consideration. At that meeting Members resolved that the application should be presented to the Planning Committee for ultimate determination.

In noting the detail of the application the following points were identified:

·         Concern was expressed that the building was close to completion before consideration by Planning Committee. 

·         Initially, it had been agreed to put one property on the site.

·         The site has a mixture of properties crammed onto a site that is not amenable to local residents.

·         There is a distance of 21 metres between two of the properties.  However, at another location within the site one of the properties is too close to another property being eight metres away.

·         The frontage, where the car parking provision is located, does not provide space for a footpath, with a 13 metre gap between a property and another property opposite.

·         Concern was expressed that the application did not fit within the street scene and there were overlooking issues within the site. It was also considered that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

We considered the report of the application and late correspondence which was

recommended for approval subject to the conditions outlined in the report and subject to a Section 106 Agreement.

The application was presented to Planning Committee on 3rd March 2020 with a recommendation for approval. At this meeting it was proposed that the application be approved subject to the six conditions outlined in the report and subject to a Section 106 Agreement. Also, that an additional condition be added to approve the details of foul drainage including the removal of the existing arrangement. It was subsequently considered that the drainage details should be made available prior to approval to allow scrutiny from the Sustainable Drainage Approving Body (SAB), Natural Resources Wales, local residents, the Community Council and Local Member.

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

·         If the application is approved foul drainage issues need to be addressed.

·         The proposed application is a better alignment with less overlooking of the adjacent property.

·         The local Member would like the Planning Committee to consider lowering the ridge height slightly in line with surrounding properties.

·         There has been concerns regarding drainage and the dimensions of the plot.

·         The Section 106 funding is a modest contribution.

·         The local Member asked for information on sprinkler systems being installed in newly built properties.

·         Wainfield Lane had been recently resurfaced.  The local Member asked if a bond could be agreed to ensure that any damage to the newly resurfaced road is made good.

Gwehelog Community Council, had submitted a written statement outlining the community council’s objections to the application which was read to the Planning Committee by the Head of Planning, as follows:

‘The council responded to this application on 29 June 2020, when the members unanimously objected on the following grounds:

•  This is an attempt to fit two properties into one plot which itself has been subject of previous splitting. This will make inadequate sized plots and be out of character for what is essentially a rural setting.

•  The original plan for the houses to be built one in front of the other has been rejected by planning and new plans were submitted with the houses adjacent to each other to comply with ‘the ribbon effect’ of the rest of the lane. However, the point remains that there is insufficient land space for two houses on this tiny plot.

•  Members were concerned that the proposed development would compromise the privacy of another adjacent house.

•  The council were and are concerned with the proposals for drainage on this land which is predominantly Monmouthshire clay.

The last point certainly has not been clarified by subsequent tests which were undertaken following a long period of dry weather. We remain very concerned by the proposals for foul drainage.

We are concerned by the apparent confusion over boundaries - there appears to be slight but significant inflation of the plot size, this could be important  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This application had been withdrawn by officers before commencement of the meeting.

We received the Planning Inspectorate report which related to an appeal decision following a site visit that had been held at 30 Maple Avenue, Bulwark, Chepstow on 5^th January 2021.

We noted that the appeal had been dismissed.