Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Flux, Lang and Renner-Thompson.

(a)  The minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on Tuesday 7 January 2025, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

(b)  The minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee held on Tuesday 4 February 2025, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

(a)  RESOLVED that the minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee on 7 January 2025, as circulated, were agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

(b)  RESOLVED that the minutes of the Strategic Planning Committee on 4 February 2025, as circulated, were agreed as a true record and be 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 declared an interest in application 23/04456/OUT and advised he would leave the meeting.  Following the Officer’s introduction to application 24/04112/OUTES Councillor Foster stated that as this had included a reference to a response from Choppington Parish Council she needed to advise that she was a Member of the Parish Council but had taken no part in any discussion on the application.

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.

Outline planning application, with all matters reserved, for the erection of up to ten data centre buildings of Class B8 use totalling up to 540,000 square metres (sqm) gross internal area (GIA) in addition to ancillary structures, substation, emergency generators and other associated works.

Land At Former Power Station Site On Northern Side Of Cambois, Cambois, Northumberland

Outline planning application, with all matters reserved, for the erection of up to ten data centre buildings of Class B8 use totalling up to 540,000 square metres (sqm) gross internal area (GIA) in addition to ancillary structures, substation, emergency generators and other associated works.

Land At Former Power Station Site On Northern Side Of Cambois, Cambois, Northumberland

T Wood, Principal Planning Officer provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  An addendum report which provided updates and amendments to conditions had been circulated to Members in advance of the meeting and had been uploaded to the Council’s website.  A copy would also be filed with the signed minutes.  The additional conditions to be added included within the addendum report were also briefly outlined by the Officer during the introduction. 

Further updates were provided as follows:

·       National Planning Policy Guidance (NPPG) had been updated on 27 February, and it was confirmed that following a review of the report, this did not affect the recommendation within the report.

·       A further response had been received from Northumberland Wildlife Trust which stated that the County Ecologist’s response to proposals clarified many details in the application.  It continued by saying that the applicant had also responded to their concerns and had stated the application was in outline and it was the intention that habitats would be retained where possible within the Site during reserved matters applications. The extent of loss needed to be tied down in order to assess the residual impacts, therefore they would maintain their holding objection over the current proposed loss of this habitat of high environmental value and asked that every effort was made to retain as much of the habitat on site as possible by careful design of the layout and appropriate measures during construction.  Due to the knowledge and experience of the County Ecologist involved, they had more confidence that there would be appropriate implementation of the mitigation hierarchy, with the avoidance of important habitats and then clear and appropriate mitigation or compensation.  They still had concerns about impacts on skylark, which required open sight lines for predators.  They acknowledged and welcomed the proposals to control INNS on site prior to any soil movement or construction but would ask that the exact locations of these species were provided to the County Ecologist prior to this work commencing, and that if chemical control was used for Japanese knotweed, stem injection rather than spraying be used.

In response to this Ecology had advised that they could not justify asking for specific locations when individual plants were scattered widely across the site, and they did not want to prohibit spraying as it might be the best method in certain instances.

·       Choppington Parish Council made comments neither objecting to, or supporting the Planning Application. They welcomed the job opportunities that this project might bring to the area, which they believed could contribute positively to the local economy. However, they had reservations about the underutilisation of the site.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

During consideration of the following item and as the meeting approached the limit of 3 hours, Councillor Hutchinson proposed, and Councillor Stewart seconded the motion to suspend Standing Orders and allow the meeting to continue.  This was unanimously agreed.

Demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment of former Marley Tiles Factory to provide 60no. residential dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated access, parking, landscaping and infrastructure (as amended)

Marley Tile Factory, Lead Lane, Newlands, Consett, Northumberland,

DH8 9JQ

Demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment of former Marley Tiles Factory to provide 60no. residential dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated access, parking, landscaping and infrastructure (as amended)

Marley Tile Factory, Lead Lane, Newlands, Consett, Northumberland,

DH8 9JQ

K Blyth, Planning Area Manager provided an introduction to the report with the aid of a power point presentation.  Updates were provided as follows:

·       Condition 20 –  amend to read “No development other than demolition should take place until an …….

·       The NPPG was updated on 27 February in respect of Green Belt development. There was no update on how viability on these types of sites might be affected. It was confirmed that the document had been reviewed by Officers and did not affect the recommendation.

·       The recommendation was updated to read as follows: that the application be granted subject to completion of a s106 agreement to include overage provisions and to secure the following financial contributions: £300,000 bus service; £830,838 affordable housing; £8119.41 parks and gardens; £54,129.42 education;  £902.16 healthcare and £8168 habitat monitoring fee and with the conditions set out in the report and the updated condition 20.

Councillor Horncastle addressed the Committee speaking as the Ward Councillor on the application.  His comments included the following:

·       This site, on the boundary between Northumberland and Durham, had been an eyesore for many years and had become an attraction for youth anti-social behaviour with a young boy falling through the roof and sustaining serious injuries.  It was also an area well known for fly-tipping and everyone wanted something done to it.

·       The site was a probable one as it was an abandoned factory left to rot which contained asbestos and was an ecological problem.

·       When he had previously been Chair of this Committee, an application for 120 houses on the site had been refused both by the Committee and at a subsequent Appeal.

·       He had received a telephone call asking him to meet the current applicants at the site itself to ascertain what was wanted on the site.  He felt that the applicants had studied the site, along with the previous reports and Inspectors decision well and had taken on board comments.  The application tonight was the culmination of these discussions and a lot of hard work.

·       The application was for good quality housing with good quality materials being used.

·       He hoped Members would fully support the application for the transformation of this difficult site and he welcomed the S106 contributions, even though there would be no affordable housing actually on the site.

·       He highlighted that this would be the last opportunity get the site cleared and developed as no one else would come forward.

C Smith, Planning Director at Lichfields, the Agents, and R Swan from Story Homes addressed the Committee speaking in support of the application.  Their comments included the following:-

·       Mr Smith advised that he had been the Agent for the previous Bellway application which had been considered at the meeting in December 2019 and had heard the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Outline permission (all matters reserved) for erection of mixed-use development comprising hotel (Use Class C1), family pub/restaurant (sui generis) and retail/commercial pods (Class E) (amended red line plan 16/07/24)

Former Link House Farm, Links Road, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3PL

Outline permission (all matters reserved) for erection of mixed-use development comprising hotel (Use Class C1), family pub/restaurant (sui generis) and retail/commercial pods (Class E) (amended red line plan 16/07/24)

Former Link House Farm, Links Road, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3PL

R Soulsby, Senior Planning Officer introduced the report to the Committee with the aid of a power point presentation.  Updates were provided as follows:-

·       Condition 4 had been amended to correct a drafting error and was now listed as revision 2 as opposed to revision 1.

·       The Updated NPPG from 27 February had not impacted on the recommendation in the report.

·       One further objection had been received from the Council’s Economic Development and Regeneration team which had been circulated in advance of the meeting and was read out to Committee.   The objection raised material planning considerations which had been assessed, but following review it was considered these would not impact on the approval recommendation.  The application was supported by sequential test as required by Policy TCS 4 of the Local Plan and the LPA were satisfied with the findings of the assessment which concluded that there were no other sites within the local area which could accommodate the whole of the application, ie the hotel and retail pods.  The LPA was also happy that the sequential test appropriately addressed the potential impact on the Blyth town centre and that the retail pods would not impact on town centre retail. The proposed pods were anticipated to support small scale businesses, such as coffee shops, cycle rental and surfboard hire which were ancillary to the function of the wider area as a tourist attract and not direct consumers outside of the town centre for general retail purposes.  Whilst the objection highlighted that Blyth might not be able to accommodate two additional hotels, competition issues were not a material planning consideration for the LPA and furthermore it was considered that a hotel adjacent to Blyth Beach would accommodate different needs in comparison to a hotel in the town centre.  Additionally there could be a potential for additional hotels in South East Northumberland moving forward in relation to other potential developments in the area.

The Senior Planning Officer read out a statement from Councillor Daniel Carr, the Ward Councillor for the application site as follows: -

As the Blyth Members in attendance were already aware, gatherings in the Mermaid car park had been a persistent problem.  Given these concerns, it was believed that Members strongly consider requiring the developer or via S106 funding, to upgrade and install top of the range sound-activated deterrent devices with an integrated camera to discourage anti-social behaviour on site.  This would provide a proactive solution to prevent future issues and ensure the development did not inadvertently contribute to ongoing anti-social behaviour problems.  This aligned with Secured by Design principles and the NPPF Section 8, which emphasised the need to create safe and secure environments.  Introducing such a measure would not only protect the development’s future users but also reassure local  ...  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 month.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.