Agenda item

20/02482/FUL

Construction of 29no. residential units associated with phase 3 of the site.

Land North Of Fairfields, Longframlington, Northumberland. 

Minutes:

Construction of 29no. residential units associated with phase 3 of the site.

Land North of Fairfields, Longframlington, Northumberland.

 

There were no questions regarding the site visit videos.

 

H Marron, Principal Planning Officer introduced the application to the Committee with the aid of a Power Point presentation.  An update was provided as follows:

 

         Formal comments from the Building Conservation Officer had been received which confirmed that the development would give no harm to heritage assets which was in line with the Officer’s report. 

         

A written statement from the Parish Council in relation to the application was read out by L Little, Senior Democratic Services Officer and would be filed with the signed minutes of the meeting.  A copy would also be uploaded to the Council’s website.

 

A written statement from the applicant in support of the application was read out by L Little, Senior Democratic Services Officer and would be filed with the signed minutes of the meeting. A copy would also be uploaded to the Council’s website.

 

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

 

         If the Local Plan had been adopted then the application would have been recommended for refusal as this would impose the settlement boundary and the Plan would carry full weight and would sustain a refusal.  However the Local Plan was not adopted at the current time and would not sustain a refusal. It was clarified that it had previously been the position that the further along the process the formation of the Local Plan was then the more weight it would carry, however now until the Local Plan had been adopted no weight can be placed as there were unresolved issues within the Plan in respect of settlement boundaries.

         The application would normally have been considered by the North Northumberland Local Area Council however due to the applicant pushing for a decision and the possibility of them invoking non-determination, then it had been decided it should be reported to the first available Planning Committee, which happened to be Strategic Planning.

         The affordable housing on the site would be 3 bedroomed terraced properties with 3 shared ownership and 2 affordable rent.  The affordable housing team had looked at the proposals and had no objections to the type and tenure of the properties. 

         It was clarified that some towns and villages had settlement boundaries in existing local plans but Longframlington did not.  The new Local Plan when adopted would impose settlement boundaries on all small towns that did not currently have them.

         A settlement boundary was not intended to prevent all development beyond the boundary as exception sites could be considered.  The developer was keen for this application to be decided before the boundaries were imposed through the adoption of the Local Plan. 

         It had been checked and verified that a letter drop to 72 neighbouring properties had been undertaken along with a site notice and press notice which had generated 8 responses, mostly from residents of Armstrong Grove.

         It was not possible to defer the deciding of applications until the Local Plan had been adopted as the Government had made it clear that decisions must continue to be made during the pandemic.  It would not be possible to refuse this application due to prematurity.

         The Local Planning Authority was duty bound to deal with each application on its own merits.

 

Councillor Thorne proposed refusal of the application for the reason of Cumulative Landscape Impact.  He advised that he also thought this was a premature decision and highlighted how much the village had grown, evolved and absorbed the drip feed of new housing within the village.  He stated that within the previous two years there had been an explosion of housing approvals and a village which had 400 properties was now heading towards another 300 newly built or approved which took the village to 700.  The North Northumberland Local Area Council had refused recent applications which had both been overturned at Appeal.  He advised residents had not objected to this application as they had done to previous applications for this reason. If the Local Plan had been adopted then the application would have been recommended for refusal. The proposal to refuse the application for the reason of “cumulative landscape impact” was seconded by Councillor Renner-Thompson.

 

In debating the application and the proposal to refuse the application whilst Members had sympathy the local Ward Member and residents, the majority advised that they could not support the proposal to refuse the application for the additional 29 properties as there were insufficient grounds to do so and the risk of losing an appeal to great.  A vote was taken as follows on the motion to refuse the application:- FOR 2; AGAINST 13; ABSTENTION 1 and therefore the motion fell.

 

Councillor Flux proposed approval of the application in line with the Officer’s recommendation as outlined in the report which was seconded by Councillor Stewart.  A vote was taken as follows: FOR 13; AGAINST 2; ABSTENSIONS 1.

 

RESOLVED that the application be GRANTED for the reasons and with the conditions as outlined in the report and subject to a Legal Agreement pursuant  to s106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) to secure the following obligations:

 

         Financial contribution towards secondary education provision (£48,000)

         Financial contribution towards healthcare provision (£22,200)

         The provision of 5no. on site Affordable Homes.

 

A five minute break was held at this point and Councillors Reid, Renner-Thompson, Robinson and Swithenbank left the meeting.

 

Supporting documents: