Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair outlined the procedure to be followed at the meeting.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Apologies were received from Councillors Darwin, Reid and Renner-Thompson.

The minutes of the Strategic Planning Committees held on Tuesday 5 October  2021, as circulated, be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Strategic Planning Committee held on Tuesday 5 October2021, as circulated, were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

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.

The Chair highlighted the site visits which had been undertaken in respect of three of the applications on the agenda and thanked both Members and Officers for their attendance.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Construction of 18no. Starter Units

Factory D , Ennerdale Road, Riverside Business Park, Blyth NE24 4RG

Construction of 18no. Starter Units

Factory D , Ennerdale Road, Riverside Business Park, Blyth NE24 4RG

J Murphy, Planning Area Manager - Development Management provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  Updates were provided as follows:-

·       Paragraph 1.1 should refer to the Strategic Planning Committee and not the Castle Morpeth Local Area Council as stated.

·       Condition 12 refers to condition 9 and it should state condition 11.

A Franklin, Hedley Planning Services addressed the Committee speaking in support of the application on behalf of the applicant.  His comments included the following:

·       The applicant had worked closely with the Council at every stage in order to deliver 18 high quality business units within a sustainable location which would create an additional 1,600 sqm of floorspace and an estimated 92 jobs for local people.

·       As evidenced, the proposed development made effective use of previously developed land within an established business park benefitting from existing infrastructure and provided suitable access to the shops and services which Blyth Centre had to offer.

·       The principle of construction 18 high quality units was acceptable within an allocated industrial estate and policies within the emerging Northumberland Local Plan (NLP) also supported proposals for economic growth especially in main towns such as Blyth.

·       The principle of development was considered acceptable with other material considerations having been assessed. The proposed units matched the building materials to that of adjacent units and would integrate with its surroundings. The design and scale of each unit was considered appropriate for the end commercial use.

·       There had been public comments with regard to highway safety, in particular the internal road network within the business park. The proposal would create a new site entrance off Coniston Road along the eastern edge of the proposed site and detailed consideration had been given towards the design of a functional highways access which would be safe for all users. The applicant had worked in co-operation with the Council to evidence these measures within the Transport Statement submitted in support of the application.

·        An additional road safety assessment had been undertaken to determine the safety of the access point in relation to the adjacent road network and had been assessed by an independent party.

·       The detailed plans and assessments concluded that a safe and suitable site access had been achieved off Coniston Road which would not adversely impact the adjacent road network.  Therefore the comments regarding road safety had been resolved following collaboration between the applicant and the Council’s Highways Team.

·       The Officer’s recommendation was welcomed and the Committee were requested to endorse this recommendation and grant planning permission.

In response to questions from Members of the Committee the following information was provided:-

·       The site was not complex and was allocated for business use.  Additional assessments and scrutiny had been undertaken due to concerns of highway safety following the history of the road with a fatal collision occurring. For this reason a Highway Safety Audit had been undertaken prior to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Construction of a two-platform railway station including: ramped pedestrian access, new highway access; modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways; provision of parking for cars, electric vehicles, motorcycles, cycles, and taxis and other associated works. Construction of facilities ancillary to the station including, lighting, soft and hard landscaping, surface and subsurface drainage, utilities and other services, boundary treatment and other associated works

Bedlington Railway Station, Station Street, Bedlington, Northumberland

NE22 5UZ

Construction of a two-platform railway station including: ramped pedestrian access, new highway access; modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways; provision of parking for cars, electric vehicles, motorcycles, cycles, and taxis and other associated works. Construction of facilities ancillary to the station including, lighting, soft and hard landscaping, surface and subsurface drainage, utilities and other services, boundary treatment and other associated works

Bedlington Railway Station, Station Street, Bedlington, Northumberland

NE22 5UZ

G. Halliday, Consultant Planner provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation which included visualisations of the proposed development.  Updates were provided as follows:

·       East Bedlington Parish Council had now advised that they were in support of the application.

·       A letter had been received from Mr Orr, Consultant for Ward Hadaway who were acting on behalf of Bernicia Group in their objection to the application.  The letter set out comments relating to noise impacts and requesting that any decision should be deferred until the severity and cumulative impacts had been assessed in detail and all appropriate information had been put before the Committee.  They further suggested that if Members were minded to approve the application a further three conditions be imposed on any permission granted.  A full copy of the letter was available on the planning portal.

Members were advised that a Main Contractor had only just been appointed and if permission was granted they would be building six stations and other associated works with the detailed programming of the various works still to be decided.  The information that was known at the current time had been included in the Committee Report and whilst this was not complete it was the best that was available.  The main issue was the proximity to Sleekburn House and whilst there would be some impact during the construction and operational phases proposals to mitigate these were the subject of conditions and these were appropriate to use with the final detail to be provided at a later date.  It was not wrong to make a decision based on the information provided.

Councillor J Foster joined the meeting at 3.45 pm and did not take any part on deciding this application. 

F Orr, Consultant for Ward Hadaway addressed the Committee speaking in objection to the application.  His comments included the following:

·       Members would be aware of the very familiar social landlord role that Bernicia had and of the very good working relationship it had with the Council which  was valued. It shared the same desire to bring the best to the County and its people and both Bernicia and the Local Authority had a responsibility to their residents. 

·       Bernicia objected to the application in respect of the interests of its residents which it felt would “fall between the cracks of the planning position and the Transport and Works Order”. They asked that Members took time to consider the needs of the 29 residents of Sleekburn House, the majority of which were over 75 years of age with the oldest  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

Construction of parking for cars, electric vehicles, and other associated works. Modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways and new highways access

Land North of 6 Liddle’s Street, Ravensworth Street, Bedlington, Northumberland

Construction of parking for cars, electric vehicles, and other associated works. Modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways and new highways access.

Land North of 6 Liddle’s Street, Ravensworth Street, Bedlington, Northumberland

G Halliday, Planning Consultant provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  He advised that a late observation had been received from East Bedlington Parish Council which stated that they supported the application and would welcome additional electric vehicle charging points if possible.  Members were advised that 10% of the total number of spaces were utilised for electric vehicle charging points which was over the 6% which was normally requested.

In response to questions from Members of the Committee the following information was provided:-

·       In response to comments made by Councillor Foster in relation to the parking of cars and the existing only for access sign being ignored, it was confirmed that a condition was imposed which could look at the introduction of parking restrictions on Ravensworth Street and as the signage was also to be looked at then the only for access sign would be repositioned with better sight lines.

·       The loose surface outside the commercial premises did not form part of the public highway, however it was within the red line application boundary and if required then it could be looked at securing the resurfacing of this as part of a condition.

·       Condition  17 advised that if any change in the charging strategy were proposed then details of mitigation would need to be provided and approved by the Local Planning Authority.

·       The current speed limit on Ravensworth Street was 30 mph. If an access had the correct width and visibility splays in both directions then increased levels of traffic would not make the junction unsafe.  If there was a need to ensure that the junction was kept clear then this could be secured through a condition.

Councillor Foster proposed acceptance of the recommendation to approve the application which was seconded by Councillor Flux.

In response to road safety concerns, Councillor Wallace highlighted that there was a speed unit which had been put in by a joint initiative by ex-Councillors Gobin and Crosby in response to a fatal accident in another part of Bedlington.  He advised that the site had previously housed over 100 HGV vehicles.

A vote was taken on the proposal to approve the application in line with the recommendation in the report and it was unanimously:

RESOLVED that the application be GRANTED for the reasons and subject to the conditions as outlined in the report.

During consideration of the following item as the time approached 5.00 pm and to allow the meeting to continue it was :

RESOLVED that Members agreed to the suspension of Standing Orders to allow the meeting to continue after the 3 hour limit.

Construction of a new single platform railway station including new highway access and signalised junction; modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways; provision of parking for cars, electric vehicles, motorcycles, cycles, and taxis; works to public rights of way. Construction of: facilities ancillary to the station including, lighting, soft and hard landscaping, surface and subsurface drainage, utilities and other services, boundary treatment and other associated works

Land South East Of Delaval Court, Astley Road, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

Construction of a new single platform railway station including new highway access and signalised junction; modifications to existing highways including pedestrian footways; provision of parking for cars, electric vehicles, motorcycles, cycles, and taxis; works to public rights of way. Construction of: facilities ancillary to the station including, lighting, soft and hard landscaping, surface and subsurface drainage, utilities and other services, boundary treatment and other associated works.

G Halliday introduced the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  An addendum report had been circulated in advance of the meeting and had been uploaded to the Council’s website which provided details of amendments and additional conditions to be attached to any permission granted.  He also advised that two further emails had been received from Mr R Billinghurst regarding the proposed layout of the car park and omissions from the officer report which had also been circulated to Members of the Committee in advance.  Paper copies of both were also made available at the Committee. 

D Moy addressed the Committee speaking on behalf of residents of Whytrigg Close in objection to the application.  His comments included the following:

·       Residents were not opposed to the opening of the rail line or the proposed car park but wished to see changes to its proposed layout and size which they considered would improve the impact of the proposals without any detriment to its users.

·       The current proposals would have a major impact on the lives of residents and they were entitled to further consideration. The current proposals would increase antisocial behaviour and the residents proposals would minimise problems.

·       The layout of the car park forced all cars to pass close to their properties unnecessarily on the outer road which would encourage speeding. There was already a problem with anti-social behaviour and the Police had challenged the application stating that antisocial behaviour should be designed out at the design stage.

·       The solution would be to change the traffic flow and route it away from the back of their houses.  Virtual meetings had been held with the local MP and all present had agreed that the direction of travel should be changed to alleviate the serious issues but NCC had not taken notice of this.  A direction change to the platform would also reduce antisocial behaviour and break up traffic flow and these changes were easy wins.

·       NCC had not demonstrated in the design modelling analysis could be defended from serious criticism.  A large proportion of residents to the south of Seaton Delaval would use the metro rather than travel and use the Seaton Delaval station.  SENRUG had also confirmed this in a report which had been prepared many years ago.

·       The long term effects of the Pandemic had been ignored and the reduction in the use of public transport due to changes in working practices such as more working from home had not been taken into consideration.

·       It had not been fully explained why there had been a 211% increase in the number of spaces  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

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

RESOLVED that the information be 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 monthly period.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.