Agenda and minutes

Venue: A virtual meeting

Contact: Paul Bateman  Email:  paul.bateman@southandvale.gov.uk

Note: You can watch this meeting via this weblink: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTj2pCic8vzucpzIaSWE3UQ 

Items
No. Item

80.

Chair's announcements

To receive any announcements from the chairman and general housekeeping matters.

Minutes:

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the procedure to be followed in a virtual meeting.

 

81.

Minutes of the previous meetings pdf icon PDF 127 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Planning Committee minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 4 November 2020 and Wednesday 25 November 2020.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 4 November 2020 and 25 November 2020 as correct records and agree that the chair sign these as such.

 

82.

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

Minutes:

Councillor David Bretherton declared an interest in respect of the application for the Elms, Upper High Street, Thame (P20/S0928/FUL); he had, in his capacity as a Thame Town councillor had voted in a decision relating to this site. He intended to speak on this application as a ward councillor but would not vote on the item.

 

Councillor Kate Gregory declared an interest in respect of the application for the Elms, Upper High Street, Thame (P20/S0928/FUL); he had, in her capacity as a Thame Town councillor, had voted in a decision relating to this site. She intended to speak on this application as a ward councillor but would not vote on the item.

 

Councillor David Bretherton declared an interest in respect of the application on Land adjacent to Kiln Avenue, Chinnor (P20/S2355/FUL); he was a member of the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway but did not hold any position of influence in that organisation.

 

 

83.

Urgent business pdf icon PDF 163 KB

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent and to receive any notification of any applications deferred or withdrawn.

 

On 10 December 2020 the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035 was adopted. The supplement updates the report in respect of council policies insofar as they relate to the Elms, Upper High Street, Thame (application P20/S0928/FUL).

Minutes:

The senior planning officer reported that an important  decision had been taken by the council since the publication of the agenda; on 10 December 2020 the council had agreed to adopt the South Oxfordshire Local Plan (SOLP) 2035, which replaced the SOLP 2011 and Core Strategy.  The Local Plan now carried full weight for the purposes of determining applications.

 

Application P20/S0928/FUL, Land at the Elms, Upper High Street, Thame, had been fully reviewed in the light of the new policies. An amended report had been sent to the committee and published on the council website on 15 December 2020. Regarding other sites coming forward to the committee for determination, the officers’ reports relating to them would contain policy advice as appropriate.

 

 

84.

Proposals for site visits

Minutes:

There were no proposals for site visits.

 

The senior planning officer reported that that site visits at each of the following locations had taken place on 14 December 2020, which members of the committee had attended; Land to west of Elmcroft, Manor Road, Goring  (application P19/S2923/O) and Land adjacent to Kiln Avenue, Chinnor (application P20/S2355/FUL).

85.

Public participation

To receive any statements from members of the public that have registered to speak on planning applications which are being presented to this committee meeting. 

Minutes:

The list showing members of the public who had registered to speak had been sent to the committee prior to the meeting. Statements from the public received prior to the meeting had been circulated to the committee.

86.

P20/S0928/FUL - Land at The Elms, Upper High Street, Thame pdf icon PDF 2 MB

The erection of an extra care development (Use Class C2) of 66 units; 3 guest rooms; a communal resident's centre with staff facilities; provision of car, cycle and mobility scooter parking; the creation of new public open space; the provision of new pedestrian/cycle links from Upper High Street to Elms Road and Elms Park; and associated infrastructure works and landscaping.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillors David Bretherton and Kate Gregory each declared an interest in respect of this application; they had, in their capacity as Thame Town councillors, voted in a decision relating to this site. They intended to speak on this application as ward councillors, but would not vote on the item.

 

The committee considered application P20/S0928/FUL for the erection of an extra care development (Use Class C2) of 66 units; 3 guest rooms; a communal residents centre with staff facilities; provision of car, cycle and mobility scooter parking; the creation of new public open space; the provision of new pedestrian/cycle links from Upper High Street to Elms Road and Elms Park; and associated infrastructure works and landscaping on land at Land at The Elms, Upper High Street, Thame.

 

Consultations, representations, policy and guidance and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report which formed part of the agenda pack for this meeting.

 

The planning officer reminded the committee that at its meeting on 21 October 2020 it had deferred consideration of this application, as it required further information on the calculations for the social housing element of the proposal, particularly offsite provision, the calculation formula and commuted sums. On 14 December 2020 members of the committee had received training on social housing and the national policy context.

 

The planning officer explained that commuted sums were a rare occurrence, as they were only paid in very specific circumstances and that off-site social housing was provided under a tight specification.  Also, a commuted sum figure represented the gap between the cost of provision by a registered provider and the full market value.

 

The committee’s attention was brought to a correction regarding the application documentation; owing to an architect’s drafting error, the original report to the committee had omitted lift shaft details.  This had been rectified in the latest report, which contained drawings.  Lifts would not be viewable on the outside of the building.

 

During the debate on 21 October 2020, the matter of the unit sizes in comparison to the extant permission arose, as did the role of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan in the determination of this application. Some members of the committee had suggested that some of the proposed units were too large and had remarked that Thame Neighbourhood Plan policy HA4 stipulated 45 mixed dwellings on this site, but that the application proposed 66, with no affordable housing element.  The planning officer reported that  policy HA4 did not mention social housing at all. Also, a table of the unit sizes was provided at paragraph 13 of the revised report. The planning officer reported that 66 units would result in a policy requirement for 26.4 affordable units, as 40% of the total development. The council’s affordable housing team leader had confirmed that the scheme had not attracted interest from Registered Providers, and would be complex in terms of management and associated charges. . The principle of an off-site financial contribution in lieu of the affordable housing on site was therefore considered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

87.

P19/S2923/O - Land to the east of Manor Road, to the south of Little Croft, and to west of Elmcroft, Manor Road, Goring pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Erection of 20 dwellings and associated works with all matters reserved except for access (as per amended plans and information received 29 November 2019).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Part way through the consideration of this application, members took a vote just before the meeting guillotine of 8:30pm to continue the meeting to complete consideration of this item.

 

The committee considered application P19/S2923/O for the erection of 20 dwellings and associated works with all matters reserved except for access (as per amended plans and information received 29 November 2019) on land to the east of Manor Road, to the south of Little Croft, and to west of Elmcroft Manor Road, Goring.

 

Consultations, representations, policy and guidance and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report which formed part of the agenda pack for this meeting.

 

The planning officer reported that this application had been deferred on 4 November 2020 to facilitate a site visit, which had taken place on 14 December 2020. The application was for outline permission for 20 dwellings and associated works with all matters reserved except for access. The application was part of a programme to deliver 94 dwellings over 4 allocations. The site was situated in flood zones 1 and 2.  Taking into account the allowance for climate change, parts of the site adjoining Manor Road (and Manor Road itself) were treated as within Flood Zone 3a.  The main issues concerning objectors was flooding, the impact upon the area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) and the effect upon trees.

 

The planning officer reported further developments, namely that the application had been accompanied by several technical assessments, some of which had been revised or amended during the course of the application: a Revised Flood Risk Assessment had been made in March 2020 and a Revised Drainage Layout Plan was completed in June 2020. The site had been submitted for development in the Goring Neighbourhood Plan, Policy 07. The Goring Parish Council held a neutral position on the application. The Chilterns Conservation Board had objected to the application on the basis of impact on AONB and the rural landscape. Following discussions between the developers and technical parties, no technical objections to the application remained, subject to a number of conditions requiring further details for assessment at reserved matters stage.  The Environment Agency had no objection to the proposal subject to measures being carried out in accordance with the flood risk assessment and mitigation works in relation to finished floor levels and compensatory storage levels. The landscape officer initially had concerns but further details submitted to the had satisfactorily dealt with that officer’s concerns.

 

The planning officer provided an update on the written information which had been shared with committee. The report had been written prior to adopt of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan being adopted on 10 December 2020. Paragraph 6.9 of the report required minor amendment, as a result of the pre- existing policy on public art being deleted, the policy numbers had changed.  All policy numbers had moved back by one figure. Also, policies TRANS2E, TRANS4E and TRANS5E no longer carried the designation ‘E’. The table at paragraph 2.2 in the report contained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

88.

P20/S2355/FUL - Land adjacent to Kiln Avenue, Chinnor pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Erection of fence along the boundary of Kiln Avenue (as per minor amendment to the block plan submitted 9 September 2020, correcting proposed height of fence to correlate with the elevations and acoustic report provided).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This application was deferred due to the meeting guillotine having been reached prior to its consideration. It would be considered at a later date, to be confirmed.

89.

P19/S0058/FUL - Land to the south of Creek End, Abingdon Road, Burcot, OX14 3DJ pdf icon PDF 272 KB

Proposed erection of a detached five-bedroom dwelling and a detached double garage. (As amended by revised site plan revised FRA and drainage strategy received on 5 October 2020 and as revised and clarified by site layout drawing S2-P-02D amended to show trees on northern boundary received on 30 October 2020).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This application was deferred due to the meeting guillotine having been reached prior to its consideration. It would be considered at a later date, to be confirmed.

 

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