Agenda item

Planning Application Numbers: full planning application (23/AP/1156) and listed building consent (23/AP/1157).

Report: see pages 144 to 202 of the main agenda pack.

PROPOSAL:Erection of a new building to house a Children's Picture Gallery, erection of a single storey extension to the Gallery Cottage, closure of an existing access and creation of a new access point from Gallery Road with associated landscaping, bin storage and bicycle storage and installation of a ground source heat pump. (associated LBC ref: 23/AP/1157)

The chair announced that while the committee would be hearing the two applications together, it would be making a separate decision on each.

The committee heard the officer’s introduction to the report. Members put questions to officers.

There were no objectors wishing to speak.

The applicant’s representatives addressed the committee and answered questions put by members of the committee.

There were no supporters living within 100 metres of the development site who wished to speak.

Councillor Richard Leeming addressed the committee in his capacity as a ward councillor and responded to questions put by members of the committee.

The committee put further questions to officers and discussed the application. Members also asked for clarifications from the applicant’s representatives. The meeting then took a short recess from 8:45pm to 8:49pm to consider standard conditions which had been circulated.

A motion to grant full planning application for application number 23/AP/1156 was moved, seconded, put to the vote and declared carried.

RESOLVED:

That planning permission be granted, subject to the standard conditions listed in Appendix A to these minutes, and an additional condition requiring a management plan to be submitted and approved by officers which is to include the number of school visits. This additional condition will also require the development to comply with the requirements of the approved management plan.

Reasons:

The committee recognised the harm to the Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) by reason of inappropriate development to which it gave significant weight as required by national, regional and local policies.

The committee also assessed the impact of the proposed development on the openness of the MOL and on the preservation of its openness. Members of the committee discussed the loss of one percent of MOL which would be caused by the erection of a permanent building. In the committee’s opinion, this one-percent loss will nevertheless make 35% of the MOL more publicly accessible. Members therefore concluded that the openness will be preserved.

In addition to this, very special circumstances exist which outweigh the harm to the MOL. These are economic, social and environmental in nature:

·  the continued, beneficial operation of the gallery

·  the provision of extra facilities for children and local schools

·  the creation of three jobs on the site

·  increased access by the public to the MOL

·  additional planting of hedgerows and trees, including mature trees

·  increased accessibility for disabled people and cyclists.

These very special circumstances are the reasons for overturning the officers’ recommendation to refuse planning permission, and for granting planning permission as set out above.

A motion to grant listed building consent (application number: 23/AP/1157) was moved, seconded, put to the vote and declared carried.

RESOLVED:

That listed building consent be granted subject to the conditions set out in the report.

The meeting then adjourned for a comfort break from 8:53pm to 9:01pm. At this point, Councillor Cleo Soanes gave her apologies and left the meeting.