Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meetings of this Committee held on 4 and 11 November 2020.

Minutes for 25 November 2020 will be available for the next Western Area Planning meeting, as officers are confirming the additional conditions requested by Members during that meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2020 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the inclusion of the following amendments:

Item 1, page 9, point 24, final bullet point: Councillor Carolyne Culver asked that the wording “This would be challenging for Planning Enforcement to check…” be replaced with something closer to the exact wording she had used, such as “…she was concerned about the kind of evidence that had been presented to Members evening and why the assessments had been done at such an unusual time of day. This underscored her concern that should Planning Enforcement need to do more of these monitoring exercise in the future, they needed to be done at different times of day. Rather than sending somebody out to do something at an odd time of day, such as 3am until 7am, it needed to be a much more comprehensive approach. She and the local residents would be particularly concerned that that happened.”

Councillor Adrian Abbs had a query regarding correspondence he had received from an officer regarding a decibel levels condition. Neither Ms Kim Maher, the Legal advisor, nor Jenny Legge, the clerk, were aware of the conversation. Ms Maher offered to investigate the issue outside of the meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2020 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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.

All Councillor present declared an interest in Agenda Item (4)1, but reported that, as their interest was a personal or an other registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

(Councillors Dennis Benneyworth and James Cole declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that the application was within the ward they represented. As their interests were 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 Tony Vickers declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that he was friends with the applicant’s tree advisor. As his interests were 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 of the Members present declared that they had been lobbied on Agenda Item 4(1)).

1.     The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 20/02322/FUL in respect of Boames Farm, Boames Lane, Enborne. The application sought to erect two sheds for housing cattle during winter.

2.     Mr Masie Masiiwa, Senior Planning Officer, introduced the report to Members, which took account of all the relevant policy considerations and other material planning considerations. In conclusion the report detailed that the proposal was unsatisfactory in planning terms and officers recommended that the Head of Development and Planning be authorised to refuse planning permission for the reasons listed in the main and update reports.

Removal of speaking rights

3.     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 was 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.

4.     The above changes to speaking rights were subsequently amended at the Council meeting on 10 September 2020. It was agreed that parties making written submissions in relation to a planning application would be invited to attend the remote meeting of the Planning Committee to answer any questions that Members of the Committee might wish to ask in order to seek clarification on any part of their statement.

5.     In accordance with the Extraordinary Council resolution, written submissions relating to this application were received from Enborne Parish Council (Mr John Leeson), Mr John Handy, supporter, and Mr Simon Tomkins, applicant.

6.     Individual written submissions were published online with the agenda -http://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=155&MId=5737&Ver=4

Parish Council’s Submission

7.     The Clerk read out the representation. Mr John Leeson was invited to join the meeting to answer questions from Members of the Committee.

8.     Councillor Tony Vickers asked for clarification as to what was meant by “…so woodland absence”.  Mr Leeson indicated this was an editing error. He explained that the applicant had moved to the site in approximately 2001, and there was a photo from that time in the Design Access Statement that showed that, at that time, there was no woodland on the site of the proposed development.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.(1)