Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2018 (PN3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2018 were approved and signed.

Dix Pit – Sheehan Haulage & Plant Hire Limited

·                     Application MW0073/17 (Section 73) - An appeal lodged by the applicant against a decision by the Committee on 8 January 2018 to refuse Application MW0073/17 had been allowed but that an application by the applicant for costs had been refused.

·                     The Chairman read out the following note of correction on behalf of Councillor Charles Mathew which acknowledged that comments he had made at the meeting on 8 January regarding violations of the routeing agreement that Sheehan Haulage and Plant Hire Limited was subject to had been incorrect.

"During the course of the Planning & Regulation Committee Meeting on 8 January 2018 Councillor Mathew stated that on his way to Oxford that morning some 5 lorries had passed him going to the Dix Pit site belonging to Sheehan Haulage & Plant Hire Limited (SHPHL) in breach of the routeing agreement that SHPHL is subject to. The routeing agreement states that no heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) belonging to SHPHL should use  the restricted route on the B4449 passing through Sutton between 07.30 — 09.00 am and 04.30 — 06.00 pm Monday — Friday, SHPHL is also required to use its best endeavours to ensure that no HGVs belonging to third parties use the route between the restricted hours either.

Having since been provided with evidence by SHPHL regarding the location of the vehicles attending its Dix Pit site on the morning in question, Councillor Mathew now acknowledges that he was mistaken in his belief that the 5 lorries which passed him on the morning of 8 January 2018 were in breach of the routeing agreement.”

Report by the Director for Planning & place (PN6).

This is an update report following the submission of further information from the applicant in response to queries raised by Planning & Regulation Committee on 10 December 2018 when this application was deferred.

The application proposes a new single storey three classroom teaching block, including withdrawal room, toilets, stores, ancillary rooms together with minor modifications to hard and soft landscaping and modified parking arrangements. The site lies in a conservation area and there would be a loss of school playing field. Various objections have been received including on these issues but also including the impact on the local highway network of additional associated vehicle movements. The application is considered against development plan policies and other material considerations and recommended for the grant of conditional planning permission subject to the completion first of a unilateral undertaking to secure the payment of a School Travel Plan monitoring fee.

Subject to the applicant first providing a Unilateral Undertaking for the payment of the School Travel Plan monitoring fee of £1240 it is RECOMMENDED that planning permission for R3.0114/18 be approved subject to conditions to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place, to include the following:

i.          Detailed compliance;

ii.         Permission to be implemented within three years;

iii.       Provision of a School Travel Plan prior to the first occupation of the development;

iv.        Provision of additional scooter and cycle parking;

v.        Submission, approval and implementation of a Construction Management Plan;

vi.        Provision of external lighting scheme;

vii.      Provision of bird boxes.

The Committee considered PN6) an update report following the submission of further information from the applicant in response to queries raised by the Planning & Regulation Committee when deferring this application on 10 December 2018.

The application proposed a new single storey three classroom teaching block, including withdrawal room, toilets, stores, ancillary rooms together with minor modifications to hard and soft landscaping and modified parking arrangements. The site lay in a conservation area and there would be a loss of school playing field. Various objections had been received including on those issues but also including the impact on the local highway network of additional associated vehicle movements. The application was being considered against development plan policies and other material considerations and recommended for the grant of conditional planning permission subject to the completion first of a unilateral undertaking to secure the payment of a School Travel Plan monitoring fee.

Having presented the report and in response to Councillor Mathew Mrs Hudson confirmed that the new playing area was situated north of London Road and sufficiently large to meet expected requirements.

The Chairman acknowledged receipt of an email from John Phillingham which had been sent to all members of the Committee.

David Cooper a local resident stated he was a great supporter of Benson CoE school and his children had been pupils there but feared that this would merely be a sticking plaster solution to a much bigger accommodation problem which the village was likely to face in the future in view of the proposed housing development. The school had grown over the years with each phase encroaching onto the playing field area.  In 1945 that had been 10,650 sg metres but would now be reduced under these plans to 4,600 so any further loss would be disastrous.  The new building would jar with houses opposite, the new car park would be too prominent and visually intrusive.

He then responded to Councillor Gawrysiak to confirm that the proposed building would, in his opinion, jar with the houses to the north as shown on the top of the report plan.

Bill Pattison Chair of Benson Parish Council also alluded to the view that in preparing this scheme no consideration seemed to have been given to factor in what could happen with regard to demand in the future as a result of proposed development in the village. There was a great deal of local concern over these proposals and he agreed that this was very much a short-term fix bearing in mind plans for 760 houses in the Benson Neighbourhood Plan. That growth would inevitably create even more demand and needed to be factored in to any proposals for the provision of education facilities such as a new school rather than this piecemeal approach. The land was contaminated and if this proposal went ahead would mean further erosion of available playing space.  The County Council needed to take into account the level of objection which included the South Oxfordshire District Council.

He then responded  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/19

Report by the Director for Planning & Place (PN8).

This is a planning application to regularise an existing noise attenuation bund at the existing quarry site. 

The report outlines the relevant planning policies, along with the comments and recommendations of the Director for Planning and Place.

The main issues with the application are the case for Very Special Circumstances for inappropriate development in the Green Belt, the effect on local amenity, and the effect on the local landscape.

It is RECOMMENDED that planning permission for application no. MW.0001/18 be approved subject to conditions to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place to include the following conditions:

 i.          The development shall be carried out strictly in accordance with the particulars of the development, plans and specifications contained in the application except as modified by conditions of this permission. The approved plans and particulars comprise:

·  Application form dated 6/12/2016

·  Planning Statement dated December 2016

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 1 D – Site Location Plan

·  Drawing no SHIPEXT1610 2 A – Screening Bund

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 3 C – Bund update survey 06.06.2016

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 4 D – Noise Bund - cross sections

·  Technical Note dated 5 October 2016

ii.          Within two months of the date of the permission, a scheme of planting shall be submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority. The scheme shall be implemented during the next planting season.

iii.          The bund shall be removed by 17 June 2021. 

The Committee considered (PN&) a planning application to regularise an existing noise attenuation bund at the existing quarry site. 

Mr Broughton presented the report and addenda and responded to questions from:

Councillor Phillips -  the revised date in Condition iii was to ensure the life of the bund was tied in with the end date for the recycling area.

Councillor Johnston – it was proposed to use a tussock grass mix.

Councillor Webber – there was no right of appeal for third party objectors other than judicial review on process and he confirmed that all correct procedures had been followed.

Gemma Crossley attended for the applicant and responding to a question from Councillor Walker confirmed that planting would be carried out in the next available season. That hadn’t been done during the last planting season as it had been abnormally dry.

RESOLVED: (on a motion by Councillor Reynolds, seconded by Councillor Johnston and carried unanimously) that planning permission for application no. MW.0001/18 be approved subject to conditions to be determined by the Director of Planning and Place to include the following conditions:

 i.          The development shall be carried out strictly in accordance with the particulars of the development, plans and specifications contained in the application except as modified by conditions of this permission. The approved plans and particulars comprise:

·  Application form dated 6/12/2016

·  Planning Statement dated December 2016

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 1 D – Site Location Plan

·  Drawing no SHIPEXT1610 2 A – Screening Bund

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 3 C – Bund update survey 06.06.2016

·  Drawing no SHIPTSV1608 4 D – Noise Bund - cross sections

·  Technical Note dated 5 October 2016

ii.          The scheme shall be implemented during the next planting season.

iii.          The bund shall be removed by 31 December 2025. 

Report by the Strategic Director for Communities (PN8)

The Council has powers to make Public Path Orders to divert and extinguish public footpaths, bridleways and restricted byways under the provisions of the Highways Act 1980 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Applications may be made to the Council by landowners, developers, etc and a charge is made to cover the costs of processing them up to the Order-Making stage. Once an Order is made, it is within the public domain and the Council has no powers to recover its costs.  All applications must follow a rigid legislative process and the Council will determine whether to make the Order requested based on the legal tests contained in the relevant legislation.

Presently, any decision as to whether an Order is made, or the application rejected, is delegated to the Strategic Director for Communities. If an Order is made and no objections are received, the Order is confirmed and brought into effect. However, where an Order does receive an objection, the individual case is referred for consideration by this Committee to determine whether to either abandon the Order or authorise its referral to The Planning Inspectorate to determine.

The report outlines a change in this procedure so that such cases are not routinely referred to the Committee, thereby shortening the decision-making process.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to NOTE that decisions to refer Public Path Orders to The Planning Inspectorate where objections have been made will be referred to the Committee only in those cases where: -

(a)      the Strategic Director for Communities considers a case to be significantly contentious or of sufficient importance to warrant consideration by members; and/or

(b)      concerns are raised by the local County Councillor.

The County Council had powers to make Public Path Orders to divert and extinguish public footpaths, bridleways and restricted byways under the provisions of the Highways Act 1980 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Such applications might be made to the Council by landowners, developers, etc with a charge made to cover the costs of processing them up to the Order-Making stage. Presently, any decision as to whether an Order should be made, or an application rejected, was delegated to the Strategic Director for Communities. If an Order was made and no objections were received, the Order was confirmed and brought into effect. However, where an Order received an objection the individual case was referred for consideration by the Planning & Regulation Committee to determine whether to either abandon the Order or authorise its referral to The Planning Inspectorate to determine.  The Committee now considered a report (PN8) outlining a proposed change to that part of the procedure so that such cases were not routinely referred to Committee, thereby shortening the decision-making process.

Having presented the report Mr Walker confirmed that there would be no cost to the County Council from this change and that most of the applications received did go through unopposed. Local members would continue to be consulted, 

RESOLVED: (on a motion by Councillor Johnston, seconded by Councillor Webber and carried by 12 votes to 9, with one abstention) to note that decisions to refer Public Path Orders to The Planning Inspectorate where objections had been made would be referred to the Committee only in those cases where: -

(a)      the Strategic Director for Communities considered a case to be significantly contentious or of sufficient importance to warrant consideration by members; and/or

(b)      concerns had been raised by the local County Councillor.