Agenda item

We considered the report of the application and late correspondence which was recommended for approval subject to the 17 conditions, as outlined in the report and also subject to a Section 106 Agreement, as outlined in the report.

 

Councillor L. Palmer, representing Llanfoist Community Council, attended the meeting by invitation of the Chair and outlined the following points:

 

·         The Community Council recommends refusal of the application.

 

·         The site is unsuitable due to its open countryside aspect.

 

·         Llanfoist Village has been overdeveloped to a disproportionate degree in recent years.

 

·         This has had a considerable impact on the village environment.

 

·         The proposed site adjoins existing housing but this location is within the open countryside and access to the development will be from a country lane. This lane already receives a lot of traffic from Llanellen coming to Llanfoist.

 

·         When Llanellen Bridge is closed the lane is used as a route to divert traffic.

 

·         The safety of pedestrians walking along this lane will be compromised.

 

·         Llanfoist Village has been greatly developed in recent years with the addition of a number of large housing developments.  This has led to an increase in traffic on local roads.

 

·         There has also been an increase in the use of the Medieval bridge.

 

·         The infrastructure of Llanfoist cannot sustain all of these houses.

 

·         The local school is already full.  Therefore, any children living on the proposed development will not be able to attend the local school.

 

·         The impact on the village environment has been and continues to be immense with the village being turned into a town.

 

·         There are many sites within the Local Development Plan (LDP) that could be developed.

 

·         Llanfoist has doubled its size creating an unattractive urban sprawl.

 

·         Llanfoist doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with the additional housing.

 

·         There are more suitable locations for development identified in the LDP.

 

The applicant’s agent, Ms. D. Powell, attended the meeting by invitation of the Chair and outlined the following points:

 

·         The proposal has been subject to careful assessment and has no outstanding technical objections from internal or statutory consultees.

 

·         Whilst the site is currently allocated in the LDP as being outside the settlement boundary, Monmouthshire does have a shortfall in housing land supply.

 

·         National planning guidance states that there is a need to increase housing land supply and this should be given considerable weight.

 

·         If approved, the application will make a meaningful contribution towards meeting this shortfall and would provide 35% affordable housing which equates to 40 units.

 

·         The requirements in the Council’s Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Grant (SPG) will be met.

 

·         The applicant is in advanced talks with a developer and is willing to accept planning conditions which will ensure that this site is brought forward quickly.

 

·         The site is a greenfield site.  However, unlike other greenfield sites it is related to the existing settlement and is accessible to nearby facilities.

 

·         With regard to the concerns raised in respect of the proposed transport impacts, it was noted that the proposed access is a simple T junction off Gypsy Lane.  The transport impacts have been assessed and officers are satisfied that there will be no significant impact on the local highway network to the detriment of highway safety and the necessary visual space is provided for.

 

·         Significant revisions have been made to the scheme following feedback from officers.

 

·         Additional areas of open space and green infrastructure are now proposed.

 

·         No objections have been received from Natural Resources Wales regarding objectors’ references to potential flooding in the area and a robust flood consequences assessment accompanied the application which did not identify this as an issue.

 

·         Before the application was submitted, a draft proposal was presented to the community council.  The applicant had offered to engage with the community council on two occasions but these offers were not taken up.

 

Having considered the report of the application and the views expressed, the majority of the Committee expressed their support for the application and outlined the following points:

 

·         The location was suitable for housing provision.

 

·         There was a need for affordable housing within Llanfoist and approval of the application would provide 40 affordable units.

 

·         The masterplan layout of the proposed development was very good.

 

·         It was identified that sites within the LDP were not coming through as quickly as the Authority would like.

 

However, one Member expressed concern that the proposed development site fell outside of the LDP and that approval of the application would result in development sprawl within Llanfoist.  Concern was also expressed that more applications for development across the County, outside of the LDP, might be coming forward and considered that tight guidelines should be established to prevent this from happening.

 

In response, the Head of Planning, Housing and Place Shaping stated that within national planning policy it is clear that the Authority is required to have a five year housing land supply and there is a clear way in which this is calculated. Every year this goes to an independent inspector to be signed off. The Authority’s current land supply up to April 2016 was 4.1 years.  Work is being undertaken to establish what the new figure will be for April 2017. Therefore, the lack of the five year supply weighs heavily in support of this application.

 

There will be a footpath parallel to Gypsy Lane with a link through to the school site during school hours.

 

It was noted that there was the lack of a barrier at bottom of the existing public right of way where existing steps meet Gypsy Lane and the footway.  This matter would be raised with the Highways Department with a view to resolving this matter as part of this development.

 

It was therefore proposed by County Councillor M. Powell and seconded by County Councillor R. Chapman that application DC/2016/00880 be approved subject to the 17 conditions, as outlined in the report and also subject to a Section 106 Agreement, as outlined in the report.

 

Upon being put to the vote, the following votes were recorded:

 

For approval              -           13

Against approval      -           1

Abstentions               -           0

 

The proposition was carried.

 

We resolved that application DC/2016/00880 be approved subject to the 17 conditions, as outlined in the report and also subject to a Section 106 Agreement, as outlined in the report.