Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 4 May 2021.

Minutes for the meeting held on 28 April 2021 will be available for the next meeting of the Western Area Planning Committee.

The newly elected Chairman thanked the previous Chairmen, Paul Bryant and most recently Clive Hooker, for their excellent stewardship, help and advice. He also sent the Committee’s best wishes to Mr Simon Till, the Lead Planning Officer.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4th May 2021 were then 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.

Councillor Hilary Cole declared an interest in Agenda Item 4(3), but reported that, as her interest was a personal or another registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, she determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Councillor Adrian Abbs declared an interest in Agenda Items 4(1) and 4(2), but reported that, as his interest was a personal or another registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

(Councillor Adrian Abbs declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that he rented a paddock from the applicant. 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.)

1.     The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 20/02026/PACOU in respect of St Gabriels Farm, Cold Ash. Prior approval was sought for a change of use of agricultural buildings to 5 dwellings.

2.     In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Mr Bernard Clark, Cold Ash Council, Mr Christopher Sayers, objector, and Mr Steven Smallman, agent, addressed the Committee on this application.

3.     Mrs Sian Cutts, 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 acceptable in planning terms and officers were recommending that the Head of Planning and Development be authorised to grant prior approval, subject to the conditions outlined in the main report and update report.

4.     The Chairman asked Mr Gareth Dowding, Principal Engineer (Traffic and Road Safety), if he had any observations relating to the application. Mr Dowding noted that Highways Officers were content with the proposal.

Parish/Town Council Representation

5.     Mr Clark in addressing the Committee raised the following points:

·         He explained that Parish Council’s response to the application would be an emotional one. It would also be informed by officer’s comments made during the site visit, which had been clear and helpful.

·         The Parish Council considered that there were two issues on which Councillors could object to the application. One was sustainability and the other was environmental issues.

·         In terms of sustainability, the current Class Q buildings were flimsy and unsustainable, unlike farm buildings of the past. The foundations of the brick building seemed non-existent, the brick wall was crumbling, and there was an asbestos/concrete roof. From his examination, the other building had been constructed from flimsy soft wood.

·         He was unsure how a builder would be able to convert what would be left of the buildings. Therefore in terms of sustainability the scheme was laughable.

·         With regards to environmental issues, the fields to the North of Cold Ash were a site of great natural beauty, and traffic from the new access track would diminish these areas. It would be unnecessarily urbanising one of the area’s most beautiful places.

·         There was a reasonable access from the ridge. He hoped that there would be a way to persuade the developers to think again, so as not to despoil the area.

·         He queried why anyone would want to drive a wedge through a beautiful field, and reflected that a more suspicious person might conclude that there was a plan to develop the field, and close the gap between Thatcham and Cold Ash.

·         He noted that if Members were minded to refuse the application that the developer may consider the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.(1)

(Councillor Adrian Abbs declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(2) by virtue of the fact that he rented a paddock from the applicant. 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.)

1.     Councillor Hilary Cole sought clarification on whether it was necessary to discuss this application, as the Committee had already refused the associated application and the two were interdependent.

2.     Councillor Howard Woollaston suggested that the Committee move on to the Mrs Kim Maher, Legal Officer, asked for a short adjournment to confirm that this was the case. Councillor Howard Woollaston suggested that the Committee move on to Item 3 of the agenda, whilst Mrs Maher clarified the legal position. The Chairman, with the consent of the Committee, altered the order of business to consider Item 3 of the agenda.

3.     Following the decision on Agenda Item (4)3, Mrs Maher recommended that the Agenda Item (4)2 be deferred pending the applicant’s response to the Committee’s refusal of application 20/02026/PACOU.

4.     Councillor Tony Vickers queried whether a timeframe needed to be put on the deferral. Mrs Maher confirmed at this point it should be indefinite, dependant on the applicant’s actions.

5.     Councillor Vickers proposed to defer consideration of this application pending the applicant’s response to the decision to refuse permission for application 20/02026/PACOU. This was seconded by Councillor Hilary Cole.

6.     The Chairman invited Members of the Committee to vote on the proposal by Councillor Vickers, seconded by Councillor Hilary Cole to defer consideration. At the vote the motion was carried.

RESOLVED that the Head of Development and Planning be authorised to defer consideration for the following reasons:

Reasons The associated application 20/02026/PACOU was refused and, as the two are dependent on each other, any decision should wait until the applicant has had an opportunity to respond.

(Councillor Hilary Cole declared an interest in Agenda Item (4)3, by virtue of the fact that she was a member of Chieveley Parish Council. As her interest was personal and not prejudicial or a disclosable pecuniary interest, she determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

1.     The Chairman, with the consent of the Committee, reserved the right to alter the order of business on this agenda and resolved to consider this item, prior to Agenda Item (4)2.

2.     The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(3)) concerning a planning application for change of use of Hazelhanger Farm from a guesthouse (use class C1) to a dwelling house (use class C3) at Hazelhanger Farm, North Heath, Chieveley.

3.     In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, representations were invited, however none were forthcoming from the Parish Council, objectors, supporters, or the applicant/agent.

4.     Ms Lydia Mather, Principal 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 acceptable in planning terms and officers recommended that the Head of Planning and Development be authorised to grant planning permission subject to the conditions outlined in the main and update reports.

5.     The Chairman asked Mr Gareth Dowding, Principal Engineer (Traffic and Road Safety), if he had any observations relating to the application. Mr Dowding noted that officers had not objections to the proposal.

Ward Member Representation

6.     Councillor Hilary Cole in addressing the Committee raised the following points:

• This agricultural building had been granted prior approval for change to a guest house in 2016, with the full application being subsequently submitted in 2017. The new application for change of use from Class C1 to C3 dwelling house had caused her sufficient concern to call it into committee. Although, the conversion was of an extremely high standard and the dwelling was very attractive, and the applicants had done nothing technically wrong in the approach to conversion, she believed this was a good example of development by stealth.
• Although the officer’s report stated that had the change of use been considered as part of a full application, it was likely that it would have been in accordance with policy C4 of the Housing Sites Allocation Development Plan Document (HSADPD), she contended that this was conjecture and had not been tested at Committee.
• The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was revised in 2019 and set out the government’s economic, environment and social planning policies for England, and detailed how they were expected to be applied. Officers had been given firm direction to apply additional weight to this overarching economic objective, which was a material consideration, when determining applications in order to aid the recovery of the local economy post Covid. Although the hospitality industry had been hardest hit by the Covid Pandemic, now that we were emerging from it, it was in the strongest position to recover. UK  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.(3)

Application 21/00429/HOUSE was withdrawn from the agenda as further consultation was required.