Agenda and minutes

Any information received after the agenda has been published, relevant to the Applications on the agenda to be considered by the Committee will be published here.

          Apologies for absence were received from Councillors North (Chairman), Thacker, Todd and Burton.

          Councillor Winslade attended as substitute.

There were no declarations of interest.

          There were no declarations from Members of the Committee to make representation as Ward Councillor on any item within the agenda.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2010 were approved as a true and accurate record.

The proposed development was a four bedroom house with a detached double garage.  The house proposed was of two storeys, consisting of a main block with projecting gable-end features to the front and rear.  The proposed dwelling would be about 11.5 metres wide, set 7 metres from the boundary with the neighbouring plot (Cromwell House) and about 3 metres from the boundary with Plot A.  The height to the eaves would be about 5.2 metres and the height to ridge about 9 metres.

Access was proposed via a new entrance from Second Drift, which would be shared with the dwelling already previously approved on Plot A.

The application site was part of a plot known as The Haven. The site had already been divided, with the rear part of the garden to be developed as a single dwelling. The front part of the site was split into two plots known as Plot A (a dwelling on Plot A had been approved by Committee on the 12 October 2010) and Plot B (the subject of the current application).  The application site comprised an area of about 40 metres deep and 18 metres wide.  The front section of the plot comprised an existing verge and hedge line and located behind this would be the garage and shared access and turning area, with the house and garden situated behind that.

The Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the proposal. Members were advised that the main issues for consideration were the principle of development, the impact on the character of the area and the impact of the proposed development on the amenity of neighbouring dwellings. The planning recommendation was one of approval.

There had been a previous scheme consisting of two dwellings which had been refused and was subsequently appealed against by the applicant. The appeal had   been unsuccessful for the reasons highlighted in the appeal decision letter, contained in Appendix A to the committee report.

The Planning Officer gave an overview of the previous refused scheme and highlighted the changes in relation to the current scheme. Members were advised that the houses were much smaller, not so deep and not so wide. The plot was therefore much more spaciously presented and this was indicative of the settlement form in that area of Wothorpe.

Members were advised that the previous refused scheme, which had been appealed, had received negative comments from the Inspector with regards to the plots having garages at the front. However, it was highlighted to Members that there were other developments along the street with this layout and therefore the current proposal, which comprised a front garage, was considered to be acceptable by officers.

With regards to the design of the property, Members were advised that windows were proposed for inclusion on the side elevation of the property which faced Cromwell House. These windows would be minor and there would also be a side utility door. The windows would be restricted opening and there was also proposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The proposal was to create a self contained three bedroom property from the conversion of a listed barn / outbuilding. This would require the insertion of a first floor and balcony, the removal of part of the internal dividing wall, insertion of internal room partitions, re-location of the metal animal drinking bowl and two roof lights to the east and west roof elevations.

The site was an isolated former farmstead accessed from the south bound A1. The site included the listed building, Elms Farm, and a number of barns in various states of repair. The barn subject to the application was curtilage listed.

The application site was a cart barn, slightly rectangular in plan, of symmetrical appearance with a hipped pantile roof. It was an open cart barn/byre (east and west elevations) with a central dividing wall providing internal shelter of just over 3 metres. The southern side wall was jointly the common boundary wall of Elms Farmhouse. The northern side wall had an opening which had a three way metal animal drinking trough making this also accessible from the crew yard. The cart barn had typical supporting cast iron posts under large timber lintels (east and west elevations). The building was in very poor condition having had partial roof collapse and was showing signs of other structural failure.  In summary, this was a simple and subservient agricultural outbuilding in the former crew yard flanked by principle farm barns and implement buildings.

The wider area was characterised by the presence of the principal barns set around a crew yard in a ‘C’ shaped configuration with an additional barn to the west of the application site effectively creating a closed circle of barns, with the application site lying in the centre, ancillary to the larger barns.

The Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the proposal. Members were advised that previous listed building consent had been granted for the range of barns to be brought into residential use.  The main issues for consideration were the impact of the development upon neighbouring dwellings, the impact on the character of the site as a whole and on the listed buildings, the level of amenity offered to the occupants of the proposed property, the vehicular access to the development, the limited level of amenity proposed for the dwelling, parking provision on site and the insufficient separation distance between dwellings. The planning recommendation was one of refusal for both the listed building consent application and the planning application.

The current barn was a listed building of very simple structure and poor condition, and the proposed conversion works would require considerable adaptation of the building. The view of the Conservation Officer was therefore that the level of works required would be excessively intrusive and detrimental to the relatively simple character of the building. The proposed construction proposed a mezzanine to create a first floor level and this was the main concern of the Conservation Officer.

The proposal would be subjected to a lack  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.