Issue - meetings

Demolition of existing dwelling and construction of detached building containing 5 residential flats, with associated landscaping, provision of new vehicular access, car parking, cycle and refuse storage at 80 The Drive, Rickmansworth.

Recommendation: that the decision be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to write to the Planning Inspectorate to confirm that in the absence of an appeal against non-determination, planning permission would have been refused for the reason set out at section 8 of the committee report.

The application was for demolition of existing dwelling and construction of detached building containing 5 residential flats, with associated landscaping, provision of new vehicular access, car parking, cycle and refuse storage at 80 The Drive, Rickmansworth.

The Planning Officer reported that one further objection had been received since the publication of the officer report.  This did not raise any further matters other than those which were already addressed in the report.

Those present in the public gallery were reminded by the Chair that as an appeal against non-determination had been made, the committee was not able to determine the application.  Instead, it would consider how it would have determined the application had the appeal against non-determination not been made.

A member of the public spoke against the application.

The agent spoke in favour of the application.

County Councillor Paula Hiscocks spoke on the application.

Parish Councillor Jon Bishop of Chorleywood Parish Council spoke on the application.

Comments made by speakers against the proposal included: the likely increase in traffic during and after the construction phase, and the impact of congestion and on-street parking on the nearby narrow residential roads which may in particular pose a safety risk to pupils of the adjacent primary school; insufficient parking provision and the likelihood of parking obstructions which may also prevent access by the emergency services;  difficulty of access for construction vehicles due to the steep slope of the road leading to the application site; lack of robustness of the parking survey due to the timings of when it was carried out; the proposal to build a block of flats in a road which comprised all single, detached dwellings would be out of character with the surrounding area contrary to the Chorleywood Neighbourhood Plan; the increase in the density would be dis-proportionate to the size of the site and would impact on its rural character; the distance of the site from public transport, open spaces, play areas and other services was contrary to Policy 5 of the Chorleywood Neighbourhood Plan; due to the variable gradients and the distance involved access on foot to bus stops and local shops would be challenging; the proposal involved the loss of eleven trees and two hedgerows which would impact biodiversity; concern about the ability of drainage and sewerage systems to cope with the increased density on the site; flooding issues and the risk of future flooding arising from the loss of vegetation; privacy and overlooking concerns; health risks to existing residents arising from noise and pollution; safeguarding concerns arising from the overlooking of the adjacent primary school playground affecting privacy and welfare; and the environmental impact of the demolition of an existing serviceable building.

Points made by speakers in favour of the application included: the British standard of a 20% maximum of hard surfacing was based on guidance.  The proposal would retain the functional integrity of the rooting environment of the protected trees due to the structural nature of the proposed hardstanding.  There would be no excavation within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93