Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair to advise those present of the procedure undertaken at a Planning Committee.

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

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Apologies were received from Councillors R Dodd, J Foster and A Wallace.

The minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on Tuesday 1 November 2022, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

The Minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on 1 November 2022, as circulated, were agreed 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.

Councillor G Renner-Thompson advised that he had a prejudicial interest in application 22/02627/CCD and would leave the Chamber whilst the application was discussed.

Councillor B Flux advised that he had been approached as the Local Ward Councillor in relation to application 21/02505/CCMEIA however he had not pre-determined the application, had kept an open mind and would therefore take part in its determination.

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 advised that application 22/01051/FUL had been withdrawn from the agenda.  It had also been agreed that the agenda be reordered and application 22/02627/CCD would be the first application considered.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Councillor Renner-Thompson left the Chamber at this point

Construction of new school buildings, sports centre, external sports pitches, landscaping, parking and access at Land North of The Avenue, Seaton Delaval and parking and access at former Whytrig Middle School Site, Western Avenue, Seaton Delaval (amendment to red line boundary 27.20.2022)

Land East Of Allenheads/Former Whytrig Middle School, The Avenue, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

Construction of new school buildings, sports centre, external sports pitches, landscaping, parking and access at Land North of The Avenue, Seaton Delaval and parking and access at former Whytrig Middle School Site, Western Avenue, Seaton Delaval (amendment to red line boundary 27.20.2022)

Land East Of Allenheads/Former Whytrig Middle School, The Avenue, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

R Laughton, Senior Planning Officer provided an introduction to the application.  An addendum report had been circulated to Members in advance of the meeting which provided details of a revised recommendation,  information received from the County Ecologist following the submission of additional information and additional conditions to be attached to any permission given.  The recommendation was now:

“That Members grant planning permission subject to referral to the Secretary of State under the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2021 and the conditions listed in the main report and those listed in the addendum report. “

A Coxon addressed the Committee speaking in objection to the application.  His comments included the following:-

·       The Design and Access statement which formed the basis of the planning application considered access to the school from The Avenue with all parking on site.  It rejected that proposal and stated that access from Prospect Avenue was acceptable with an off-site car park. That was not a fair and valid comparison as access through Prospect Avenue would not be viable if all parking was on site, but access from The Avenue would be viable with an off-site car park. A true and fair appraisal of the two options should have been done with each having the same parking arrangements.

·       School children walking towards the entrance at Prospect Avenue would be at risk from residents driving to work out of blind junctions; delivery vehicles accessing both the glaziers and the residential properties; parents using Manners Gardens as a drop-off point; glaziers loading glass panels onto their vans across a footpath used by the children; and vehicles entering and leaving the school.

·       The double yellow lines proposed along Prospect Avenue would not stop the loading and unloading of vans and lorries and the proposed waiting restrictions did not guarantee a clear access for a coach.

·       The funeral directors prepared a 3 limousine funeral cortege directly outside their premises several times each week and restrictions should not be imposed outside these premises.

·       There was no alternative parking for the 16 or so vehicles belonging to residents which would be displaced by the parking restrictions.

·       It would be unrealistic to think that parents would detour onto Western Avenue to the car park as they would just drop children off wherever they could.

·       Access from The Avenue with full parking on site could be provided without the need for a mass tree felling operation. Most of the cars entering the school would be those belonging to staff and parents and therefore specific arrival intervals could be allocated with the flow of traffic managed and the flow of vehicles out of the site could be managed by traffic lights  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Extraction and processing of 5.8 million tonnes of sand and gravel and the phased restoration of the site to a lake and associated wetlands

Land North East of Anick Grange Haugh, Anick Road, Hexham

Extraction and processing of 5.8 million tonnes of sand and gravel and the phased restoration of the site to a lake and associated wetlands

Land North East of Anick Grange Haugh, Anick Road, Hexham

The Interim Executive Director advised that as Members were aware this item had been considered and approved at the Strategic Planning Committee in November however the S106 Agreement had not yet been signed and therefore the permission had not been issued.  Following the previous Committee the Council received a representation from a member of the public who had not been present at the meeting, who advised that in their opinion the Council had not considered unequivocally the issue of Green Belt and the factors which would justify, if needed, the position that Very Special Circumstances (‘VSC’) were reasonably concluded in relation  to the proposal.  The Interim Executive Director felt that all the issues had been sufficiently covered, however given that the representation was part of a suggested pre-action to a Judicial Review, it was felt that for transparency purposes the application be brought back to Committee to talk Members through the logic in the report and the VSC to allow development in the Green Belt.  Members were reminded that this had previously happened at some Local Area Council meetings when the issue of VSC had not been considered at the outset and Members had subsequently reversed their original decisions.    A copy of the representation was handed out to Members and time allowed for them to read this, it had also been uploaded to the Planning Portal.   A synopsis of the representation was also provided by the Interim Executive Director. 

K Tipple, Senior Planning Officer then provided an introduction to the addendum report which gave the reasons why the application had been brought back and a very detailed and comprehensive introduction to the updated Committee report which provided additional clarification regarding the Green Belt, in order to assist Members in making a new decision.  A power point presentation was also provided. This included details of the processed site compound area and the processing equipment that would be located within that area of the proposed development.

The Interim Executive Director stated the objection was that the ancillary processing of the sand/gravel did not have to be carried out on site and therefore there were no VSC for the processing plant involved in this process to be situated within the Green Belt.  He explained that to grant planning permission for inappropriate development in the Green Belt there must be identification and evaluation of (a) harm of any sort (b) positive and possibly countervailing factors, and a subsequent judgement that the factors at (b) clearly outweighed the harm in (a).  When identifying harm the following must be considered and recorded:

·       Harm by inappropriateness itself

·       Purpose of the Green Belt

·       Harm to openness itself

Members must consider not just if the processing plant equipment was ancillary to the winning and restoration of the site but what harm would be caused by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Mixed use development comprising demolition of existing buildings, extension to existing garden centre and warehouse and the provision of charity head office, training facility and business centre

Azure Garden Centre, Station Road, Cramlington, Northumberland

NE23 8BJ

Mixed use development comprising demolition of existing buildings, extension to existing garden centre and warehouse and the provision of charity head office, training facility and business centre

Azure Garden Centre, Station Road, Cramlington, Northumberland

NE23 8BJ

R Laughton, Senior Planning Officer provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.   In response to questions from Members the following information was provided:-

·       An increase in the number of electric vehicle charging points could be discussed with the applicant.

·       The existing access/exit was a suitable functioning junction and the inclusion of the pedestrian island would assist in directing traffic onto the dual carriageway and was an improvement on what was currently there.

Councillor Flux proposed acceptance of the recommendation to approve the application as outlined in the report with it delegated to the Director of Planning to discuss the provision of additional electric vehicle charging points with the applicant. This was seconded by Councillor Reed.

Members were supportive of the application, recognising that the garden centre was an asset to the Community and the proposals would allow the facilities to be updated.   A vote was taken on the proposal to approve the application as above and it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the application be GRANTED for the reasons and with the conditions as outlined in the report with delegated authority provided to the Director of Planning to discuss the provision of additional electric vehicle charging points with the applicant.

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.