Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Foster, Hill, Renner-Thompson and Thorne.

The minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on Tuesday 1 October 2024, 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 October 2024, 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 Reid advised that he had an interest in application 23/04110/OUT and would leave the Chamber whilst this was discussed.

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 not circulated with the agenda but are available on the Council’s website at  http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Planning.aspx

The report outlined the procedure to be followed and 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.

Variation of condition 27 (noise) pursuant to planning permission 16/04622/FUL to allow acoustic fence in lieu of brick wall to plots 11, 17, 22-47, 71-78, 93-101 & 113

Land South of Morpeth Road Primary School, Crawford Street, Blyth, Northumberland

Variation of condition 27 (noise) pursuant to planning permission 16/04622/FUL to allow acoustic fence in lieu of brick wall to plots 11, 17, 22-47, 71-78, 93-101 & 113

Land South of Morpeth Road Primary School, Crawford Street, Blyth, Northumberland

R Soulsby, Senior Planning Officer provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  An update report was circulated at the beginning of the meeting which provided details of two further objections from residents in relation to the application.   The application was recommended for approval subject to the amended wording of condition 24 within the officer report with Members being advised that various conditions from the original application had been removed or reworded due to previously being discharged or considered no longer relevant.  

Josh Murphy addressed the Committee speaking in objection to the application.  His comments included the following:-

·       He had been asked to speak on behalf of the Port of Blyth on yet another attempt by the applicant to overturn the Planning Authority’s original decision on the application.  Bates terminal, situated directly adjacent to the affected properties, benefitted from permitted development rights and therefore could function without the need for any significant planning control on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis.  The site had Enterprise Zone status and had been subject to extensive capital investment and the Port could not accept undue restrictions on its operations through the inappropriately mitigated sensitive receptors directly adjacent to its operations.

·       The contents of Policy QOP2 of the Northumberland Local Plan (NLP) were outlined and he advised that to satisfy this policy an appropriately worded condition was attached to the original permission which consisted of two elements.  Firstly the requirement of a suitable mitigation measure to ensure a high standard of amenity for existing users of the development, in this case a barrier of brick wall construction and thereafter to ensure the longevity of this measure for future users, it had to be in place for the lifetime of the development.  The Planning Inspectorate had summed up in the appeal “the condition is reasonable and necessary in the interests of the living conditions of residents of the proposal with regards to noise and privacy, and the operation of nearby business uses”. 

·       The applicant decided to completely ignore reasonable planning controls and development commenced on site in December 2017, including the erection of a timber fence as the boundary treatment resulting in a breach of planning and, to this day, occupation of the dwellings occurs in breach of the original permission. 

·       The applicant has had complete disregard for the original requirements to protect the operations of the Port of Byth and the residential amenity of the residents on the affected plots, which the Council’s officers had sought to protect.  He asked how a house builder had been allowed to manipulate the planning system in this manner and how discharge of the planning conditions were validated given that they did not consist of the relevant information as per the condition  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Onshore export cables, converter station and associated grid connection for Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm

Land North of Blyth & East Sleekburn, South East Of Cambois, Northumberland

Onshore export cables, converter station and associated grid connection for Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm

Land North of Blyth & East Sleekburn, South East Of Cambois, Northumberland

R Soulsby provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.   The update report circulated at the beginning of the meeting advised Members that the front page of the report showed an incorrect red line boundary for the site. This had been reduced by the applicant during the course of the planning application and the correct version was included within the presentation to Committee.  The update report also provided details of amendments to conditions 27 and 38.   It was explained that the report was being put before the Committee as the Council had an interest in some areas of land affected by the application.

Simon Hindson addressed the Committee speaking in support of the application.  His comments included the following:-

·       Thanked the officers across the Council who had worked on the application to bring forward the recommendation to approve outline planning permission for the application.

·       The application was for the onshore transmission infrastructure for the Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm which was located 39km off the East Coast of Scotland and was the largest offshore wind farm in development in the UK. There were additional grid connections in Branxton, East Lothian and the delivery of Berwick Bank Wind Farm and its grid connections were a significant part of the UK’s journey to net zero. The offshore wind farm and the offshore elements to the grid connection were covered by separate applications to the Marine Management Organisation and Marine Scotland.

·       Following National Grid identifying Blyth Substation as the grid connection point, a site selection process was undertaken along with engagement with the local community and an environmental impact assessment to establish the maximum design parameters for the development.  These assessments established Cambois as the landfall location for up to four underground High Voltage Direct Current Cables to bring the electricity from the wind farm to shore and connect to a Convertor station located within the Northumberland Energy Park 2 site adjacent to the North Sea Link substation. The convertor station would be the only above ground infrastructure as part of the scheme and landscape and visual mitigation for the substation (including through the layout and design of the buildings), the detail of which would be brought forward through a reserved matters application should outline planning permission be granted. From the convertor station there would be up to 12 underground high voltage alternating current cables connecting the development to the national grid’s Blyth Substation located to the south of Brock Lane.

·       Mitigation to minimise the impacts on people and wildlife in the local area has been established through the Environmental Impact Assessment and through the detailed design of the development, this would be refined further by working with the community and Council Officers to minimise the impact of the development. The effects of the development would largely be in the construction  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Proposed extraction of 2.8 million tonnes of dolerite, importation of inert infill material and associated highway and landscape works (amended description 10th June 2024).

Land North East of North Side, Kirkharle, Northumberland

Proposed extraction of 2.8 million tonnes of dolerite, importation of inert infill material and associated highway and landscape works (amended description 10th June 2024).

Land North East of North Side, Kirkharle, Northumberland

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

·       A late objection had been received from an organisation called Plantlife  International, the Wild Plant Conservation Charity, raising concerns, however paragraphs 7.73 and 7.74 in the report addressed the points raised.

·       A late objection had also been received from an organisation called Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust regarding White-clawed Crayfish, however paragraphs 7.81 and 7.82 addressed these points. 

·       Three other objections had been received from local residents with points already dealt with in the report.

·       The recommendation contained in the report had been amended and should now read:

“That this application be granted permission subject to the following conditions and subject to a Section 106 Agreement to secure the off-site ecological mitigation land and the visibility splay land”.

Philip Lawless addressed the Committee speaking in objection to the application.  His comments included the following:

·       He had been asked to summarise the concerns of the community who objected to the development.  He was a senior engineering and technical consultant on such projects, and he was amazed that mineral extraction applications seemed to be held to a lot lower standards than other large projects especially in relation to noise.

·       The site was allocated late in the Local Plan process and most people, and the Parish Council were not aware of this until after the Plan was published in April 2022 shortly before the planning application was submitted.  There had been a  lack of community liaison and therefore no trust in the process and due to this they felt that the site should have no status in the Plan and should be given no weight.   The applicant had argued that its presence in the Plan constituted an outline planning permission and if this is given full weight to this specific site and residents regarded this as a failure of due process and an attempt to use the Plan to circumvent community consultation.

·       The red line boundary was 800m from the village and was down wind of the prevailing south-west wind direction therefore residents were concerned about noise and dust, and the 92 plus heavy goods vehicle movements per day.

·       There were also concerns regarding the waste material which would be used to backfill the quarry as there were very few inert elements and compounds and therefore it would be likely that the materials used would have an adverse impact on the environment and would prevent the recycling of these materials within the construction industry increasing the carbon footprint of this development.

·       The applicant has had issues at their Birtley Plant in respect of noise and had argued that Gateshead Council had allowed encroachment of residential housing to the industrial estate and they as the incumbent had preferential  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.