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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Second Floor Meeting Area Council Offices Market Street Newbury. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services Team 

Items
No. Item

39.

Minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 9th March 2022.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 9th March would be brought to the next meeting of Eastern Area Planning Committee for approval.

40.

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:

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

41.

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.)

41.(1)

Application No. & Parish: 21/03222/FUL - Middle Wood, Hatch Lane, Chapel Row, Berkshire pdf icon PDF 302 KB

Proposal:

Installation of Glen Farrow GF175 Biomass Boiler and "40ft" log drying container.  Section 73 application to remove conditions 5 (nil import of lumber) and 6 (benzo [a] pyrene) of approved application 21/02398/FUL.

Location:

Middle Wood, Hatch Lane, Chapel Row, Berkshire, RG7 6NY

Applicant:

PJ Forestry 

 

Recommendation:

Grant planning permission subject to conditions

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(Councillor Graham Pask declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that he was the Ward Member and knew some of those who had objected to the application and the applicant. He had however, not pre-determined the item and would listen to and take part in the debate on the item.)

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 21/03222/FUL in respect of the Installation of a Glen Farrow GF175 Biomass Boiler and "40ft" log drying container.  Section 73 application to remove conditions 5 (nil import of lumber) and 6 (benzo [a] pyrene) of approved application 21/02398/FUL.

Mr Michael Butler (Principal Planning Officer) introduced the report and highlighted the key points.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, John Brimms, Bucklebury Parish Council representative, Ann Athawes, objector, and Mr Wakelyn (PJ Forestry), applicant/agent  and Councillor Graham Pask (Ward Member) addressed the Committee on this application.

Parish Council Representation:

Mr John Brimms in addressing the Committee raised the following points:

·                    He was representing Bucklebury Parish Council (BPC) and was pleased to see the recommendation from West Berkshire Council Planning Officers for the variation of condition five to replace it with a more reasonable restriction of one HGV vehicle per week to the site. This would enable the applicant to continue with his business but also alleviate some of the concerns of residents.

·                    The description of a HGV was a large lumber lorry and did not include the applicant’s tractor and trailer, which was also used for moving lumber.

·                    BPC was pleased to see that the concerns of residents along Hatch Lane had been taken into account. They were concerned regarding traffic to and from the site, particularly during times when school children would be walking to and from the bus stop on Chapel Row. BPC encouraged the applicant to avoid using the route at these times and to use social media when large HGV movements were expected.

·                    BPC was supportive of local businesses and the site in question was no exception. BPC has taken a balanced view to applications in the past.

·                    BPC could not understand why condition five was imposed purely in relation to approval of the biomass boiler and application 21/2398 when there was no previous importation of timber restrictions on any other application.

·                    BPC was pleased a solution had been reached between West Berkshire Council (WBC) and the applicant, which was capable of being enforced and was hopefully seen as a compromise by the residents of Hatch Lane.

Member Questions to the Parish Council:

Councillor Alan Law referred to comments raised regarding the distinction between HGVs and tractors and trailers. He noted from comments from BPC that they were referring to tractors and trailers coming into the site however, it was not clear how many times this was happening. Councillor Law stated that the tractor he had seen on site was large and the applicant was using it to bring in lumber from not too far away. Nowhere in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.(1)