Agenda item

Outline application for the erection of 5 self-build detached dwellings with associated access and parking (appearance, landscaping, layout and scale as reserved matters)

Recommendation: That the application is delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to grant outline planning permission, provided that Hertfordshire Ecology raise no objections to any further information submitted including the required reptile surveys, and following the completion of a Section 106 agreement and subject to conditions and any additional conditions recommended by Herts Ecology.

Councillor Elinor Gazzard left the meeting at 19:34.

Adam Ralton, Development Management Team Leader advised that there was no update to the report, however, confirmed this application was an outline application where the applicant had applied for the details of the access to the site.

The officer informed the Committee that as the application is an outline application, the considerations tonight are the access and the principle of the development. Therefore, the Committee will only be approving the principle of building, and the access, if planning permission is granted, not how the site is laid out.

The objector, Dr. Langley, spoke against the application.

Mr. Bennet spoke in support of the application.

Members of the Committee requested clarification on the exact location of the access to the site and the officer described the location of the access on the images available on the screens.

Members raised concerns regarding the fact that the area is in the Green Belt. The officer explained that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out that Local Planning Authorities should regard the construction of new buildings as inappropriate in the Green Belt but it includes a number of exceptions to that. One of those exceptions, which applies in this case, is if a limited infilling in a village is proposed. The officers’ assessment concludes that this is appropriate in the Green Belt, and therefore there is no need for the applicant to demonstrate very special circumstances.

Members also requested further information on how officers concluded that the proposal of 5 new buildings is a limited infilling in this case and whether the site is indeed in a village, rather than in between two villages.

Responding to the request, the officer referred to a previous appeal decision which makes reference to a continual ribbon of built development along there, with no obvious gap, when looking at Toms Lane as a whole, where the end of one village could be determined.

The officer further advised that the conclusion of the 5 new build being limited was based on evidence that was put before the officers, in part led by the illustrative layout that shows that 5 plots could comfortably be contained within that site, and still have land around them. It also demonstrates that it is possible to have plot sizes that are similar to those on the opposite side of Toms Lane.

Members raised a question regarding the management of the traditional orchard that is contained within the site.

The officer advised that Condition 7 (C7) on the recommendation secures the submission of a Landscape and Ecological Management Plan (LEMP) which outlines the features that would be managed within the site and the aims of the objectives of that management, as well as the details of the ongoing monitoring.

Councillor Debbie Morris moved, seconded by Councillor Philip Hearn that the application is delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to grant outline planning permission, provided that Hertfordshire Ecology raise no objections to any further information submitted including the required reptile surveys, and following the completion of a Section 106 agreement and subject to conditions and any additional conditions recommended by Herts Ecology.

On being put to the Committee the motion was declared CARRIED by the Chair, the voting being 5 For, 1 Against and 1 Abstention.

RESOLVED:

That the application is delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to grant outline planning permission, provided that Hertfordshire Ecology raise no objections to any further information submitted including the required reptile surveys and following the completion of a Section 106 agreement and subject to conditions and any additional conditions recommended by Herts Ecology.