Agenda and minutes

To approve as an accurate record, and the Chair to sign, the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 30 November 2015 and 9 December 2015.

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting of the Planning and Development Control Committee held on 30 November 2015 and 9 December 2015.be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

(Councillor Lucy Ivimy was not present for this item).

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Robert Largan. Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Lucy Ivimy.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee. 

There were no declarations of interest.

(Councillor Lucy Ivimy was not present for this item).

Please note these minutes were amended at the following meeting on 9 March 2016. For details of the amendments please refer to those minutes.

Please see the Addendum attached to the minutes for further details.

The Committee heard representations in support of the application from the architect. He noted that the scheme would provide a significant amount of amenity and bring an increased economic activity provided by the students living in the building.  If approved the development would be delivered promptly, ensuring that the construction noise on site would be well managed and that the design quality would be enhanced by the use of high quality materials.

An additional condition was proposed by Councillor Karmel, seconded by Councillor Aherne, controlling the hours of use of the coffee shop from 7am to 10pm, to limit disturbance to residents. The Committee agreed to this condition.

An additional condition was proposed by Councillor Karmel, seconded by Councillor Aherne, to ensure that residents’ television signals would not be affected by the development during the construction process and in perpetuity. The Committee agreed to this condition and asked officers to draft the condition as appropriate, if the application was to be approved.

The Committee voted on planning application 2015/02231/FULand the results were as follows:

For:                 4

Against:         5

Not Voting:    0

The Committee therefore decided not to agree the Officer’s recommendation to approve the application. It was then proposed by Councillor Connell and duly seconded that the proposal be refused on the following grounds:

(i)            Design – Poor quality, building too high and appearance not in keeping with the conservation area;

(ii)          Impact on residents’ amenity – Adverse impact on daylight;

(iii)         Highways – unacceptable pick-up and drop-off arrangements for students at start/end of terms; and

(iv)         Highways – development would lead to increased traffic generation and increased parking stress in the area; unacceptable servicing arrangements proposed; impact on traffic flow / the one-way system including Foxglove Street.

The Committee decided unanimously to agree these reasons for refusal.     

RESOLVED THAT:

Planning Application 2015/02231/FUL be refused on the following grounds:

(i)            Design – Poor quality, building too high and appearance not in keeping with the conservation area;

(ii)          Impact on residents’ amenity – Adverse impact on daylight;

(iii)         Highways – unacceptable pick-up and drop-off arrangements for students at start/end of terms; and

(iv)         Highways – development would lead to increased traffic generation and increased parking stress in the area; unacceptable servicing arrangements proposed; impact on traffic flow / the one-way system including Foxglove Street.

            Please see the Addendum attached to the minutes for further details.

            RESOLVED THAT:

That application 2015/04554/DET and Addendum be approved.