Agenda and draft minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings of this Committee held on 10 February 2021 and 4 May 2021.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2021 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendment:

·         The Chairman advised that he had been present at the meeting but his presence had not been noted on the minutes.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 May 2021 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.

Councillor Alan Law advised that this application had been referred to the District Planning Committee (DPC) having previously been considered at Western Area Planning Committee (WAPC), and pointed out that some of the Members of the WAPC were also Members of the DPC. Councillor Law confirmed that Councillors were not precluded from being a Member of the DPC simply because they had considered the application previously in another forum, either at the WAPC or at a town or parish council meeting, provided they came to this meeting to consider the application afresh and with an open mind.

All Councillors advised they had been lobbied in relation to the application.

Councillors Graham Bridgman, Ross Mackinnon, Richard Somner and Tony Vickers 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.

(Councillor Tony Vickers declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that he was a Member of Newbury Town Council. The Town Council’s objection to this planning application had been made clear and as such Councillor Vickers clarified that while he had a pre-disposed view on the application he had not pre-determined. 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.)

(Councillors Graham Bridgman, Ross Mackinnon and Richard Somner declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 4(1) by virtue of the fact that they were Members of the Executive. However, none of them held the Portfolio relating to this application and they would be considering the item on its own merits and determining it on planning grounds. 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.)

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4(1)) concerning Planning Application 21/02173/COMIND in respect of the proposed development for a single storey sports pavilion building and car park providing facilities and social space to support a proposed artificial turf pitch, F2(C). The proposed artificial turf pitch formed part of this application and included fencing, storage, spectator seating and artificial lighting. The building would provide approximately 400m² of internal floor space of use class F2(B). The community facility would be available for rugby and football training and matches, as well as other sporting activities.

The application had been called in by the Ward Member to the Western Area Planning Committee (WAPC) to review the parking allocation for the new use. The application was approved by the WAPC subject to conditions but referred to the District Planning Committee for consideration by Planning Management due to significant district wide public interest in the application.

Mr Masie Masiiwa, Senior Planning Officer, introduced the report. A matter not referenced in the Committee papers was that a legal representation had been received requesting that the application be deferred. However, the Council had rejected this request on the grounds that the representation highlighted no new material considerations.

In relation to the parking allocation concerns, Mr Masiiwa clarified that, subject to approval, parking provision would be provided as set out in paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5 of the District Planning Committee report. The immediate provision would be as follows:

• 52 parking spaces on the new on-site car park (also available on non match days).
• 30 parking spaces available at the Newbury Rugby Club car park (to meet demand associated with the current spectator levels for Saturday matches).
• 100 parking spaces available at the Newbury College car park (to meet demand associated with the current spectator levels for Saturday matches).

In the event there was a promotion to Step 4 of the National League System, an additional 100 parking spaces at Newbury Rugby Club and an additional 50 parking spaces at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.(1)