Agenda item

Primary residency self build dwelling with workspace and garage.

Land North East Of Bradshawgate Cottages, Bradshawgate Cottages, Swinhoe, Northumberland

V. Cartmell introduced the application with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation.

Councillor C. Williamson of Beadnell Parish council addressed the committee speaking in opposition to the application. The reasons for opposition included:

·       The Parish Council requested a deferment in this application for the local lead flood authority and the Environment Agency to investigate the drainage issue which had just been raised by the farmer and as stated in the previous application.

·       The application was an overdevelopment of a small plot with little amenity space and would have an overbearing effect on a neighbouring property resulting in a loss of their light

·       The application would also result in the loss of public amenity land which had been used for 20 years by the children from the holiday park and as there was no footpath to Beadnell the loss of the land would increase the likelihood of pedestrians, especially children coming into contact with traffic.

·       The Parish Council requested the following conditions:

(i) Grampian Condition, to prevent the start of the development until offsite works had been completed on land not controlled by the applicant to ensure that the applicant provided modern drainage to the development and should state that no work should be undertaken before the drainage situation was resolved.  The farmer had indicated that he was willing to talk to the applicants in relation to this matter.

(ii) A S106 agreement that the self-build dwelling was used as a principal residency in accordance with policies 14 & 15 of the North Northumberland Coast Neighbourhood Plan.

(iii) A S106 agreement that the separate workspace building and garage to be used for business use only in perpetuity to prevent the Neighbourhood Plan being bypassed and the accommodation changed to provide holiday accommodation.

(vi) A condition preventing any roof lights in the building emit light spill during the hours of darkness to reduce the impact on the dark skies that the area enjoyed.

Following questions from members, the following information was provided:

·       It was not felt that it would be proportionate to refuse the application on the grounds of overdevelopment of the site as whilst there may not be a lot of amenity space there was ample space for the dwellings.

·       The green space amenity that the public had used was not publicly or council owned, it was owned by the applicant who was able to develop the land.

·       The LLFA has stated that there has been no flooding recorded on the environment agency flood risk maps, nor has anything been reported. It has not been identified as an area at risk of flooding.

·       The Environment Agency would not comment on the application as it was below their threshold.

Councillor Renner-Thompson advised of issues with the drainage in the area with one pipe which was at capacity and on occasions this did back up and was causing SUDs to fail. He proposed to approve the application with the conditions as outlined in the report and a Grampian condition regarding the drainage and an additional condition to limit the use of the workshop with the wording to be delegated to the Director of Planning in conjunction with the Vice-Chair Planning and subject to the 106 agreement in the report to secure a coastal mitigation condition and to restrict the residency of the dwelling. This was seconded by Councillor Thorne.

A vote was taken on the proposal to grant the application as outlined above as follows: - FOR 11; AGAINST 0; ABSTENTIONS 0.

It was RESOLVED that this application was granted subject to planning conditions as outlined in the report, a Grampian Condition regarding the drainage and additional condition to limit the use of the workshop with the wording delegated to the Director of Planning in conjunction with the Vice-Chair Planning and subject to the applicant entering into a S106 agreement to secure the following obligations:

·       A financial contribution towards the Council’s Coastal Mitigation Service (£615) and

·       Principle residency restrictions.