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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Calcot Centre, Highview (off Royal Avenue), Calcot, RG31 4XD

Contact: Stephen Chard / Jessica Bailiss 

Items
No. Item

17.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 549 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 15th July 2020.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2020 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendments:

·         Item 16 (1): 19/01172/OUTMAJ – Land North of The Green, Theale: Page 7, penultimate bullet point: Councillor Alan Macro requested that the second sentence should read as follows: This created a road safety issue, particularly for school children needing to cross the bus park.

·         Item 16 (1): 19/01172/OUTMAJ – Land North of The Green, Theale: Councillor Alan Macro stated that at the vote it had been decided that the application be approved however, that the plans for the pedestrian crossing should be reviewed. He believed that it had been agreed that the drawing for this should be removed from the conditions however, he noted that it was still included under condition four on page 11 of the minutes.

Reference to a plan for pedestrian crossing would be removed from condition four in the minutes.

·         Item 16 (2):  20/00737/COMIND – Land at Shalford Farm Brimpton: Page 31, penultimate paragraph: To be amended to read as follows: “The local roads did therefore already carry traffic related to the wedding venue and the distance to Shalford Farm would be less than traffic to other accommodation.”

18.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillors Alan Law, Joanne Stewart, Tony Linden, Alan Macro, Nassar Kessell and Ross Mackinnon declared an interest in Agenda Item 4(1), but reported that, as their interest was a personal or another registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

19.

Schedule of Planning Applications

(Note: The Chairman, with the consent of the Committee, reserves the right to alter the order of business on this agenda based on public interest and participation in individual applications.)

19.(1)

Application No. & Parish: 20/00674/FUL - Land to the South east of Mortimer Station, Station Road, Mortimer. pdf icon PDF 553 KB

Proposal:

Change of use of land and the construction of a 150 space car park with alterations to the highway, landscaping, and associated works.

Location:

Land to the South east of Mortimer Station, Station Road, Mortimer.

Applicant:

Stratfield Mortimer Parish Council.

Recommendation:

The Head of Development and Planning be authorised to refuse planning permission.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(Councillors Alan Law, Joanne Stewart, Tony Linden, Ross Mackinnon and Richard Somner declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that they were politically acquainted with Richard Benyon who owned Englefield Estate. As their interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

(Councillors Alan Law, Joanne Stewart, Tony Linden, Alan Macro and Ross Mackinnon declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that they had been lobbied on the item. As their interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

(Councillor Geoff Mayes declared that he had been involved with the objectors to the previous application in 2008 however, would consider the item afresh and therefore was not declaring an interest)

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 20/00674/FUL in respect of the change of use of land and the construction of a 150 space car park with alterations to the highway, landscaping, and associated works.

As resolved at the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 29 April 2020, public speaking rights had been removed for virtual Council meetings. This right had replaced with the ability to make written submissions. This decision had been made in accordance with The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panels Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.

Ms Lydia Mather, Senior Planning Officer, introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

·         The existing car park for the station consisted of 53 spaces.

·         The red line shown on plans of the proposed site did not include all of the landscaping.

·         The planning report set out the history of the site and the previous appeal. There were five objectors in total and a letter of support from Great Western Railway (GWR) who would operate the car park.

·         The update sheet included a further letter of support from a resident and one further objection.

·         A slide was presented that showed the capacity of the existing car park to be between 55% and 92%. Although the car park was often at high capacity it was never at full capacity according to data.

·         A questionnaire had been submitted, as part of the Statement of Community Involvement, which was carried out with local residents in June and July 2018. 85 residents had responded saying that they used the car park daily however, more used it monthly. The vast majority of those using the car park travelled to it by car. 377 had said that they would travel by train more frequently if it was easier to park at the station. 80 had responded that they did not use the station because it lacked parking however, a higher proportion of people had skipped this question.

Councillor Alan Law felt that the key  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.(1)

20.

Maps and Photographs pdf icon PDF 17 MB

Additional documents: