Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that this was noted.

Apologies were received from Councillors Bridgett, Mather, Pattison, Thorne, and Watson.

Minutes of the meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Committee held on Thursday, 24 August 2023 as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.?? 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Committee held on Thursday 24 August 2023, as circulated, were confirmed as a true record, and were signed by the Chair.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting; 

1. Which directly relates to Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

2. Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion  or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

3. Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being  (and is not  DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

4. Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

5. Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it. 

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk.  Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

sures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Councillor Hunter advised that she had a personal non prejudicial interest in application 20/03156/FUL.

To request the committee to decide the planning applications attached to this report using the powers delegated to it. 

Please note that printed letters of objection/support are no longer circulated with the agenda but are available on the Council’s website at  http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Planning.aspx

The report requested the Committee to decide the planning applications attached to the report using the powers delegated to it. Members were reminded of the principles which should govern their consideration of the applications, the procedure for handling representations, the requirement of conditions and the need for justifiable reasons for the granting of permission or refusal of planning applications.?? 

RESOLVED that this was noted.

Demolition of redundant Community Club and construction of 6No. residential units

Belford Community Club, West Street, Belford, NE70 7QE

Demolition of redundant Community Club and construction of 6No. residential units
Belford Community Club, West Street, Belford, NE70 7QE

D. Love – Senior Planning Officer, Introduced the application with the aid of a presentation and gave the committee the following updates:

·       An additional condition stating “Prior to the commencement of any demolition works the developer shall provide evidence of a contract to commence the building of the 6 new dwelling houses including a commencement date. Works shall proceed as per these details.
Reason: In the interests of protecting the integrity and value of the conservation area as per Local Plan policy ENV 7.”

·       An error in Condition 24 referenced 50% of new dwellings, this should have been 20% as per the policy wording.

·       Conditions 12 and 13 were updated to reflect the recently updated bat mitigation information.

·       Condition 5 was updated to include a single additional requirement “Photographs of the surface water system being installed as per the agreed scheme including flow controls, storage structures and any other SuDS components.

·       Confirmation that the County Ecologist had raised no objections to the proposals, subject to the updated conditions.

·       Confirmation that the derogation tests set out in the Ecologist response had formed part of the officer assessment and did not alter the recommendation set out in the report.

Kerry Noble spoke on behalf of Belford Parish Council and gave the committee the following information:

·       The application site had become an eyesore in the conservation area.

·       A revised Planning Statement should be submitted detailing the protection of the Grade II listed War Memorial and gardens, during and after development.

·       The Parish Council suggested that the applicant should place a covenant on the six properties, making them for permanent residency only.

·       The Parish Council requested that the applicant made a voluntary contribution of affordable homes.

·       The plan showed a “No Parking” sign to be affixed to the West wall of the War Memorial which would be highly inappropriate. The wall was in the ownership of the Parish Council and would not be allowed.

·       The plan showed that the East vehicular entrance was to be closed off, the pavement reinstated and the Memorial wall and garden to be extended to cover. The Parish Council requested assurance that the work would be carried out to match the existing structure of the Grade II site and would be at no cost to the Council.

Committee members were then invited to ask the planning officers questions on the application at hand. The following information was then provided:

·       The application site was owned by a private individual, the applicant.

·       The application did not reach the trigger point to enforce HOU10 policy on restricting second homes.

·       A phasing condition could be added to ensure works to the Memorial wall would require to be completed prior to occupation of the development.

·       The applicant had agreed to the S106 agreement, and the additional condition stated in the officers’ updates.

·       An informative could be added regarding the “No Parking” sign and the ownership  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

For Members’ information to report the progress of planning appeals.? This is a monthly report and relates to appeals throughout all 5 Local Area Committee Planning Committee areas and covers appeals of Strategic Planning Committee. 

RESOLVED that this was noted.

For Members’ information to report the agreement monitoring and collection of s106 contributions in the planning process. This is a monthly report and relates to agreements throughout Northumberland during the previous 2 months.

RESOLVED that this was noted.

The next meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Committee is scheduled for Thursday, 19 October 2023

The next meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Planning Committee was scheduled for Thursday, 19 October 2023.

To consider such other business, as in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.