Agenda item

7.1 33C295B – 4 Nant y Gors, Pentre Berw

7.2 45C452 – Berllan Estate, Llangaffo

7.1       33C295B - Full application for the erection of a dwelling together with alterations to the existing access on land adjacent to 4, Nant y Gors, Pentre Berw

The application was presented to the Planning and Orders Committee at the request of the Chairman. At its meeting held on 4th March, 2015 the Committee resolved to undertake a site visit and the site visit was carried out on 18th March, 2015.

Mrs Eileen Smith, an objector to the application was invited by the Chair to address the Committee, and she drew attention to the following concerns –

•           The application has been made several times during the last few years and has been refused because the access road is not considered by the Highways Department to be adequate to take more traffic.

•           The proposal is outside the planning boundaries for Pentre Berw.

•           The proposal is not in keeping with the rest of the village either by size or design.

•           There are already difficulties in respect of parking - in her own case her property’s parking area was on the corner and it was often difficult to negotiate because they were often blocked in.

•           Widening the gateway to the application site would reduce parking spaces even further making things even more difficult.

•           Following recent ill health which had left her wheelchair bound, she required the services of an ambulance to transport her to rehabilitation. The ambulance drivers have complained that they cannot always get round which raises the question of what would happen in an emergency situation.

There were no questions to Mrs Eileen Smith from the Committee’s Members.

Mr Ieuan Davies, spoke in support of the application on behalf of his partner in whose name the application was made. He highlighted the following considerations –

•           Due to issues of affordability, the difficulties facing himself, his partner and their children in purchasing a suitably sized property in the village.

•           His desire to remain within the close village community of Pentre Berw to raise his family. The proposal offers the only means of their being able to achieve that locally and the application for a 4 bedroom dwelling is made on a practical basis to meet the needs of a growing family.

•           The application has been in process for two years and during that time he and his partner have answered each and every concern raised including commissioning tree and bat surveys.

•           The proposal provides sufficient space for parking within the application site meaning that no additional vehicles will be parked on the public highway. Arrangements will be made to ensure that traffic to the site will be able to turn and depart within the confines of the plot.

•           Discussions with neighbours have shown that they believe that widening the road will create problems for children having to use a narrower pavement.

•           Many of the neighbours have indicated that if required they would be willing to use the nearby public car park during the day to facilitate access to the plot.

•           That he was willing to co-operate with the Council to obtain planning consent.

Members of the Committee asked several questions of Mr Davies in clarification of the parking and access situation with regard to the site and those Members who had been present on the site visit referred to the visit as confirming the existence of problems with parking resulting in other vehicles having to mount the kerb to pass and to access the application site. Members specifically sought assurance from Mr Davies that there would be unhindered access for emergency vehicles and they sought confirmation from him also that he would be willing to make improvements to the site access if necessary.

In response Mr Ieuan Davies confirmed that the access would only be used as an entrance to the site and that parking facilities will be available within the plot. He said that in any case the access is a gated entrance to a field and that no parking is meant to occur in front of it currently. The proposal will not change the situation as it already exists. The Highways Authority has confirmed it is happy with the plans and neighbours have said that they would be willing not to use that part of the road during the day. He also said that should the Council require, he would co-operate in terms of making improvements.

The Planning Development Manager reported that outline permission exists since 2012 thus establishing the principle of development on the site. The proposal is also considered compliant under Policy 50 of the Ynys Môn Local Plan as forming a small and reasonable extension to the village. Due to the distance between the proposal and neighbouring dwellings it is not considered that it will have any detrimental effect on the occupants of those properties. The Highways Authority has been consulted on the application and has raised no objections to it. The recommendation is therefore to approve the application.

Whilst the Members generally indicated that they were supportive of the proposal, several expressed serious and continuing concerns regarding the issues arising in respect of parking and access to the extent that some Members saw those issues as an obstacle to approving the application. Councillor Victor Hughes suggested that the applicant enter into discussions with the Highways Authority to establish what improvements might be made to the access to alleviate the situation and to facilitate the flow of vehicles on the road leading to the site. He further suggested that given it is in a sensitive area, the proposed development should connect to the mains drainage system if that is possible so as to avert potential pollution of a nearby stream. The Planning Development Manager confirmed the availability of the public drainage system and said that the applicant would under planning policy be expected to ensure the development connects to that system.

The Highways Officer said that the situation with regard to vehicles mounting the pavement exists already and that will not change as a result of the proposal. Whilst the Highways Authority is aware that the road is narrower than what would be required for a new road the proposal entails the erection of one dwelling only and will not add significantly to the traffic situation. However, although the Highways Authority would be willing to discuss with the applicant the possibility of widening the access road if the proposal is approved, it will not insist that he does so – that is a matter for the Committee to decide – because the Highways Authority is of the opinion that such a position could not be defended at appeal due to the existence already of outline planning permission which has established the principle of development.

Councillor Jeff Evans said that the pre-existence of access and parking problems does not make those problems acceptable and that he was worried by possible repercussions to the Council if the situation is not righted. He suggested that the proposal provides an opportunity to address the situation.

Whilst several Members favoured approval conditional upon the applicant working in co-operation with the Highways Authority to improve the access situation, another Member took the view that the applicant should not be asked to rectify problems that are not of his own making and was doubtful whether it was fair to seek such assurance of the applicant in the pressured and public setting of a formal committee meeting.

The Planning Development Manager advised that planning conditions are subject to legal test and have to be shown to be necessary. The Highways Authority as the statutory body is of the view that in this case access improvements are not necessary to grant approval to the application.

The Legal Services Manager advised that two courses of action are open to the Committee, either to approve the application as presented or to defer determining the application to allow discussions to take place between the applicant and the Highways Authority in relation to improving the access but in the context of knowing that the Highways Authority does not view such improvement works as necessary on the basis that the current situation although not ideal, is not likely to be exacerbated greatly by the addition of the proposed development.

Councillor Kenneth Hughes proposed that the application be approved as presented. His proposal was seconded by Councillor Vaughan Hughes.

Councillor Lewis Davies proposed that the Committee defers determination so that discussions can take place on the lines advised by the Legal Services Manager, and his proposal was seconded by Councillor Jeff Evans.

In the subsequent vote Councillors John Griffith, Kenneth Hughes Vaughan Hughes, Richard Owain Jones and Nicola Roberts voted to approve the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation; Councillors Lewis Davies, Jeff Evans, Ann Griffith, Victor Hughes, Raymond Jones and W.T. Hughes voted for a deferral. The vote for a deferral was therefore carried.

It was resolved to defer determining the application in order to ask the Highways Officers to hold further discussions with the applicant to seek to establish whether improvement works to the application site’s access are possible.

7.2       45C452 – Outline application for the erection of a dwelling together with full details of access on land adjacent to Stad Berllan, Llangaffo

The application was presented to the Planning and Orders Committee as it had been called in for the Committee’s determination by a Local Member. At its meeting held on 4th March, 2015 the Committee resolved to undertake a site visit and the site visit was carried out on 18th March, 2015.

The Planning Development Manager reported that the key issues are the extent of the proposal’s compliance with Policy 50 of the Local Plan in constituting a small and reasonable extension to the village, and drainage matters. It is the Officer’s view that the proposed development would have its back to the village and thus in landscape terms it would be read as a separate development in a countryside location rather than a small infill or extension to the existing developed part of the settlement. The proposal would cut through the current reasonable boundary to the village and would begin to erode the clear definition that at present exists in this location between the village’s built form and the countryside. Highways issues in terms of the provision of a safe and suitable access were also raised at the time of the site visit. A revised access arrangement would require the removal of roadside hedges which would in turn further exacerbate the landscape and visual impacts of the proposal. With reference to drainage considerations, the Planning Authority has not been persuaded that the proposal has adequately investigated connection to the main drainage system as is required under national planning policy and advice contained in Circular 10/99. For these reasons the recommendation is to refuse the application.

Councillor Ann Griffith said that she was standing down as Vice Chair for this application in order to address the meeting as a Local Member in support of the application. She referred to the applicants’ familial connection with the area, and for their desire for that reason, and due to caring obligations, to remain within the village. She pointed out that this was a proposal for a modest cottage type development, which by virtue of its size and design would blend in with its surroundings and would neither be intrusive nor incongruous in the area. She said that it was her opinion that the proposal, the plot area of which fringes part of the garden of one of the properties on the neighbouring estate, does form a small extension to the village of Llangaffo and is therefore compliant with Policy 50. There are no objections to the proposal and the Rhosyr Community Council is supportive of it. Councillor Ann Griffith read out a letter by the applicants setting out their case in support of the application.

Councillor Lewis Davies said that he did have concerns regarding the proposal not least that granting it could open the remainder of the field enclosure in which it is sited and beyond to further potential development thus further intruding into the countryside, but also because of considerations of access, the removal of established hedges leading to the destruction of habitat, and the impact on the landscape and the village. He proposed that the application be refused in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation and his proposal was seconded by Councillor Victor Hughes.

It was resolved to refuse the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation for the reasons given in the written report. (Councillor Ann Griffith did not vote on the matter as a Local Member)