Agenda and minutes

Please note that item 6.1, 11/00885/FUL Land to the north of the village hall, Guntons Road, Newborough, has been withdrawn from the agenda.

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.

There were no apologies for absence received.              

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

          The minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2011 were approved as a true and accurate record.      

          The Committee received a report which followed approval of the Consultation Draft version of the Peterborough Planning Policies DPD for the purposes of public participation in February 2012. 

          The purpose of the report was to seek comments from the Planning Committee on the Planning Policies DPD (Proposed Submission Version) prior to it being presented to Cabinet on 7 November 2011.  Cabinet would then be asked to recommend the document for approval by Full Council for the purposes of public consultation and submission to the Secretary of State.

          The Committee was informed that the document was of significance to the Committee itself, as the policies contained within would be utilised for the determination of planning applications either for refusal or approval.

          The document had been through the evidence gathering, issues and options and consultation draft stages. The consultation draft had been the first stage at which draft policies had been included and this had been through the Committee cycle at the back end of 2010 and had been consulted on during the early part of 2011. Following the comments received from members of the public, as statutory consultees, a proposed submission draft had been produced and was attached at Appendix A to the main committee report. 

          There had been a number of changes made from the previous version, and these included:

·        Policy PP3 – Amenity Provision in New Residential Development. Paragraph 2.3.3 highlighted that a supplementary planning document would be provided giving more detailed information as to how a residential property should look with regards to amenity provision;

·        Policy PP7 – Development for Retail and Leisure Uses. Members were advised that this was a new Policy and had been included as a result of representations received and was to enhance the district and local centres;

·        Policy PP13 – Nene Valley. This Policy had been revised to enhance the role of the river as it was felt that it was an underused resource within the city.

·        Policy PP19 – Flood and Water Management. Numerous attempts had been made to draft this Policy and it had been decided that the Policy was no longer needed, as there was adequate information contained within the adopted Core Strategy (Policy CS22). The Policy would therefore be deleted from the submission version;

·        Appendix B (Summary of main issues raised in comments on the Planning Policies DPD (Consultation Draft) and main changes made for the submission version). There had been a couple of amendments made to the village envelopes and paragraphs 4.7 and 4.8 dealt with these changes. One of the changes had been to the Newborough boundary and the others to Thorney boundary.

          Members were invited to comment on the document and the following issues and observations were highlighted:

·        Highlighted in Appendix B to the main committee report (Chapter 4 – Potential Changes to Village Envelopes) a query was raised as to whether the plot of land in Helpston, which had been requested for inclusion within the village envelope, was detached from the village itself.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

         The Chairman addressed the Committee and advised that the item had been withdrawn from the agenda.

The application had arisen as a result of a Planning Enforcement complaint.

The applicant sought the retention of an air source heat pump unit which had been installed on the north gable end of an outbuilding within the curtilage of 10A Back Lane.

10A Back Lane was a corner plot constructed in 2004. The site fronted onto Back Lane but had its vehicular access on Luke Lane. There were parking spaces for up to three vehicles within the site.

The surrounding area was best characterised as mixed use, with the Red Lion Public House situated to the west, the main High Street to the north, which included four dwellings, the Leeds Meeting Hall, a hairdressers and an MOT test centre. To the east were three more dwellings, one of which appeared to have additional mixed use within its curtilage, the area south of Back Lane was predominantly residential and made up of low density single storey dwellings.

Back Lane itself was a narrow road with parking along one side. Double yellow lines prohibited parking around the application site however there was a small public parking area for up to eight vehicles to the north west of the site.

The site itself was comprised of a dwellinghouse, an ancillary outbuilding and a detached garage. The site also had the benefit of planning permission reference 07/00193/FUL which had granted the use of the outbuilding and one bedroom within the dwellinghouse for class B1 use (Offices). From this site the applicant operated the Peterborough base of CareWatch, a care worker agency, which had a number of bases around the country.

The Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the proposal. Members were advised that the main issues for consideration were that the heat pump represented a reduction of the carbon footprint of the development, the visual impact including the siting, design and appearance, the noise and vibration resulting from the use of the equipment and the impact on the character of the conservation area. The recommendation was one of approval and Members were advised that the unit could not been seen from any part of the public realm of the conservation area. 

Members’ attention was drawn to additional information contained within the update report. A letter had been received from Eye Parish Council objecting to the unit for a number of reasons. In response, the Planning Officer advised that these objections could not be taken into account as they were not relevant to planning considerations. The unit operated quietly, as had been witnessed by Members of the Committee on their recent site visit, the unit was also visually unobtrusive.

The Committee was advised that Councillor Sanders, a provisional speaker, was not in attendance.

Mr Franco Montecalvo, the Agent, addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the issues highlighted to the Committee included:

·        The heat pump had been fitted in order to provide an energy efficient means of heating the outbuilding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Full planning permission was sought for:-

·        The construction of a new three storey high Academy school building (The existing school on site had capacity for and formerly accommodated 1400 pupils.  The new school would accommodate 1100 pupils (5 form intake and 200 post 16 pupils)  The school currently had 120 members of staff and this was not proposed                                                     to change as a result of this proposal.);

·        Retention and refurbishment of the Sports Hall, Dining area and kitchen, Blocks C and D;

·        The demolition of some of the existing school buildings and pre-school building on site;

·        The construction of a new single storey pre-school building: - (The Lakeside pre-school would be relocated on site, to a new purpose built building at the west of the site.  It provided early years provision for up to 30 pre-school children (+2years) and had five full time equivalent members of staff);

·        The provision of associated external areas, including playing fields and pitches, remodelling the landscape, 143 car parking spaces (including seven disabled spaces), 230 cycle parking spaces, and alterations and additions to the boundary treatments (to include a 2.4 metre high well mesh fence secure line);

·     Retention of the existing Scout and Cadet buildings and facilities;

·        Widening of the existing access road on site to 5 metre width, with 2 metre wide pedestrian footpath on its southern side;

·        Creation of a new 3 metre wide shared pedestrian/cycle route to the east of the      new school building;

·       The use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems;

·        The new buildings would be constructed to minimise energy consumption and increase efficiency, to achieve higher standards that are required under current building regulations, equivalent to Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Very Good rating.  

The site covered an area of approximately 13.66 hectares and was comprised of the existing school buildings, car parking, sports fields and pitches.  It also contained the Scout and Cadet buildings, these buildings and their functionality were to be retained, together with the adjacent Multi Use Games Area.  The current Lakeside pre-school building would be demolished and this facility relocated in a new purpose built unit on the west of the site.  The Peterborough United football club were currently using some of the football pitches on site as a training ground. 

The application site was accessed from Oundle Road via a separate in and out circular loop which was shared with the adjacent Primary school site (St Botolphs). The Longfield Gate residential development of 16 houses bounded the site to the north. To the south, east and west the site was bounded by mature tree belts.  The Orton Hall Grade II Listed hotel was located beyond the site to the east. 

The Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the proposal. Members were advised that the main issues for consideration were the proposed design and layout of the development, the impact on neighbouring sites, the access to the site and highways issues and the impact of the development on trees and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The proposal was to erect two, three storey buildings to create six, two bedroom flats. The site would be accessed off Peterborough Road and proposed six car ports with spaces in front (12 spaces in total) and storage areas at rear with dedicated and shared amenity spaces.

There currently existed a 1970’s two storey detached dwelling (Pier Head) of little to no architectural merit. Levels fell north from Peterborough Road South to the River Nene. A large hedgerow ran along the north and east of the site, with a mix of boundary treatments to the west.

There were residential properties on a similar building line to the house that were to be demolished, to the east and west, of varying roof heights, design and construction. No.23 to the immediate west had facing secondary windows.

There were trees on site that contributed to the street scene, some of which were highlighted as being lost.

The Planning Officer addressed the Committee and gave an overview of the main issues for consideration, those being the policy context and principle of development, the design and visual amenity, the impact on neighbouring residents, the amenity of future occupiers and highways implications. The recommendation was one of approval.

Members were advised that the application was a resubmission of a previously refused scheme. The concerns previously highlighted had been addressed and were outlined to the Committee.

Due to the site changing level abruptly, the development was ‘dug’ into the hillside and therefore the ‘basement’ portion of the proposal was only visible from the back giving a two storey appearance from the front and a three storey appearance from the rear.

The proposal was located outside of the floodrisk area therefore there were no concerns highlighted by the Environment Agency.

The design of the proposal was in accordance with the streetscene and would not result in the loss of light or privacy of neighbouring properties and would provide open garden space and parking for the proposed residents.

As a verbal update to the report, the Tree Officer had requested the addition of a condition to secure an appropriate method of construction of the access in relation to the trees at the front of the site.

Mr Barry Nicholls, the Planning Consultant, addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the issues highlighted to the Committee included:

·        The application which had originally been submitted in consultation with the Conservation Officer and the Parish Council, of which neither had objections, had been substantially larger and had subsequently been rejected by the Planning Officer

·        A smaller scheme had therefore been submitted and the Parish Council now had objections

·        The roof pitch had not changed from the original design

Members sought clarification from the Planning Officer as to whether the roof pitch had been revised. Members were advised that looking at the scale of the drawings there did not appear to be much of a difference.

Following further brief comments, a motion was put forward and seconded to approve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Under application reference 10/00990/FUL, planning permission was granted by Members for the construction of a detached 5 bedroom dwelling on Plot 5 of the Huntly Lodge Development, Orton Longueville.  The permission was subject to a number of conditions and three were the subject of the current application:

            C2 Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority, no development (other than foundation works) shall take place until samples of the following materials to be used in the construction of the dwelling have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority:

a)      Walling and roofing materials

b)     Windows and external doors

c)      Rainwater goods

d)     Fencing and other boundary treatments

e)      Driveway surfacing

            Development shall be carried out in strict accordance with the approved details.

            Reason:  For the Local Authority to ensure a satisfactory external appearance, in accordance with policy DA2 of the Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement).

            C6 If the dwelling has not been constructed to slab level by 2 November 2011 then development shall cease until a revised Ecological Mitigation Strategy has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority, and the approved Strategy has been implemented.

            Reason:  To ensure survival and protection of important species (a feature of nature conservation importance) and those protected by legislation that could be affected adversely by the development, in accordance with policies LNE17 and LNE19 of the Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement). 

            C7 Prior to first [sic – the condition should read ‘The dwelling shall not be occupied’] until a scheme for the landscaping of the site has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority; the landscaping scheme shall include the following detail (select those appropriate):

1.                  Means of enclosure (boundary treatment – fences, hedges etc).

2.                    Planting plans - written specification (including cultivation and other operations associated with tree, shrub, hedge or grass establishment). Full details of every tree, to be planted (including its proposed location, species, size, proposed numbers/densities and approximate date of planting).All tree, shrub and hedge planting shall be carried out in accordance with BS 3936 -1992 Part 1-Nursey Stock-Specifications for Trees and Shrubs and Part 4 1984-Specifications for Forestry Trees ; BS4043-1989 Transplanting Root-balled Trees; BS4428-1989 Code of Practice for General Landscape Operations.

3.                      An implementation programme.

            Any trees, shrubs or hedges (including those shown as being retained) dying within 5 years shall be replaced during the next available planting season by the Developers, or their successors in title, to the satisfaction of the Local Planning Authority.  Any replacement trees or shrubs dying within 5 years shall themselves be replaced to the satisfaction of the Local Planning Authority

            Reason: In order to improve the visual amenity of the areas, in accordance with Policies DA1, DA2, LNE9 and LNE10 of the Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement).

The application before the Committee was to partially discharge condition C2 in so far as the roofing and window materials; fully discharge condition C6; and partially discharge  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.