Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20^th August 2014 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the following amendment:

Page 3 – Paragraph which stated that ‘Councillor Graham Pask supported the Business Plan .....’. The words ‘Planning Policy Task’ should be amended to read ‘Planning Policy Team’.

Councillor Tim Metcalfe had made a comment at the end of the last meeting, but it did not appear to have been minuted, that bringing items to the District Planning Committee cost a certain amount of time and money. He had therefore requested that in future a member of staff from the Planning Policy Team should be in attendance at these meetings to defend the case in policy terms for bringing the item to Committee.

Councillor Brian Bedwell declared an interest in Agenda Item 4(1), but reported that, as his interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

All Members of the Committee (apart from Councillor Jeff Beck) had received a letter from the agent for the College and it would therefore be treated as a general group lobby.

(Councillor Brian Bedwell declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that he was a member of Bradfield College Golf Club. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 14/01558/FUL in respect of the construction of six high performance tennis courts including floodlighting, landscaping, car parking, vehicular and pedestrian link at land to the north of New Road, Bradfield College.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Mr. Trefor Llewellyn, representative of Bradfield College and Ms. Lucy White, agent, addressed the Committee on this application.

David Pearson stated that this application had previously been considered by the Eastern Area Planning Committee on 29^th October 2014 where it had been determined that the application should be approved subject to appropriate planning conditions. However, the Officers’ view was that the application was contrary to the development plan policies and due to issues in relation to sustainability and the impact on the AONB, the item should be referenced up to the District Planning Committee for a decision. 

Cheryl Willett reported that the proposal was for the construction of six tennis courts made of artificial clay and which would be arranged in two groups on two level terraces. It included 24 no. 8 metre high floodlights, a vehicular and pedestrian access route from the existing access road, the erection of a 2.75 metre high chain link fence, earth mounding of one metre high to the perimeter of the site and landscaping. The site was outside of the Settlement Boundary in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty close to a Conservation Area. Although the provision of new facilities should be encouraged they needed to be in the right location. Bradfield College was situated in an unsustainable location. Apart from the location of the site, the main reasons for refusal included the fact that there were limited travel choices to and from the application site. The development site was in an exposed part of the countryside and it was felt that the proposal would change the character of the land. However, the Planning Officer considered that mitigation measures put forward in respect of landscaping had been appreciated. The lighting was 8m in height and would be on an area of the College which was currently dark in landscape and therefore there would be an impact from potential light pollution. If Members’ were minded to approve the application then a number of proposed conditions had been set out in the Update Sheet.

Mr. Trefor Llewellyn and Ms. Lucy White in addressing the Committee raised the following points:

·                     Mr. Llewellyn had  been a Bursar at Bradfield College for eight years and was now representing them on this project;

·                     The existing indoor tennis provision at the College adhered to the elite training standards of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and was the only  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.(1)