Agenda item

To approve the record of the meeting held on 9 May 2018 and the record of the Joint meeting of Committees held on 16 May 2018.

The record of the meeting held on 9 May 2018 and the record of the Joint Meeting of Committees held on 16 May 2018  were agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

The Chairman referred to the supplementary agenda advice sheet and drew attention to the following planning applications which had been considered by the Committee on 9 May 2018 and where the Head of Planning had agreed reasons for refusal with the Chairman outside of the meeting in line with the Committee’s wishes:

·         Planning application MC/18/0805 - Rose Cottage, 326 Hempstead Road, Hempstead, Gillingham

Refusal ground:

1.         The proposal represents an overdevelopment of the site by introducing first floor accommodation within the roof space of the proposed property to the rear of the site resulting in a form of development out of character with the area.  The proposal would also increase the likely number of people living at the property and thereby the number of private cars to the property, which in turn would have an unacceptable impact on the amenity of residents of the existing property adjacent to the proposed access by virtue of the intensification of the use of the access which would be further exacerbated by the scheme proposal for tandem parking and thereby the need for additional vehicle movements and disturbance.  The proposal is therefore contrary to the provisions of policies BNE 1, BNE2, and H4(ii) of the Medway Local Plan 2003 and paragraphs 53, 56 and 58 of the NPPF 2012.

·         Planning application MC/MC/18/0811 - 49 Wainscott Road, Wainscott, Rochester, ME2 4LA

Refusal grounds:

1.         The proposed A5, take away, part of the proposed use of the premises would be unacceptable to local amenity for the following reasons:

•           The take away will be in a location too close to a local primary school and  is likely to contribute to childhood obesity issues and would thus be contrary to the Council's aspirations for healthy eating set out in the Council's guidance note on Hot Food Take Aways in Medway. 

•           The proposal would require the installation of a new flue to deal with cooking odours which would be sited very close to neighbouring residential properties and even with the best possible extraction equipment this will still result in cooking odours detrimental to the amenity of residents of the neighbouring properties

•           The property is sited in a location with high demand for on street parking and the proposed A5 use by its very nature would result in indiscriminate and poor parking to the detriment of the amenities of residents living and parking in the area.

The proposal is therefore contrary to Policy BNE2 of the Medway Local Plan 2003.

·         Planning application MC/18/0548 – 8 Abbotts Close, Rochester ME1 3AZ

Refusal ground:

1.            The proposal represents an unacceptable form of backland development that would be out of keeping with, and set an undesirable precedent, that would undermine the established pattern of development on Abbotts Close while also being too close to the strong green frontage to Borstal Road, and would as such be harmful to the character of the local area. The proposal would be contrary to Policies H4(ii), H9, S4 and BNE1 of the Medway Local Plan and the objectives of Paragraphs 53, 56 and 58 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012.

The Head of Planning then referred to planning application MC/18/0074 – Land at North Sea Terminal (Triangle Land), Salt Land, Cliffe Kent ME3 7SX and reminded the Committee that at its meeting on 9 May 2018, a decision on this application had been deferred due to clarification over HGV movement and apparent conflict between condition 13 and the officers report.  Condition 13 as worded appeared to allow an additional 40 HGV movements while the report confirmed that the overall HGV movements for Bretts as a whole would not be increased by the proposal. The applicants had subsequently confirmed that the report (and Members understanding) was correct.  The Head of Planning advised that the planning application should have been considered under delegated powers but had been reported to Committee in error and therefore he had sought confirmation from every Committee member that they were happy for an approval to be granted under delegated powers subject to the wording of a condition corrected as set out below.  No objections were received from any Committee member to this suggestion and therefore a delegated approval had since been granted:

13.       No more than 40 movements of heavy goods vehicles per day shall be made to and from the plant hereby approved, but such that, when added to the overall HGV movements to and from the rest of the site, all HGV movements shall remain within the existing permitted limits of 110 per day (factories 1, 2 and 3: ME/88/722, ME91/0757, ME/95/0415 and MC2000/1400) and there shall be no increase in the overall HGV movements without any variation first being agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority. Prior to the plant hereby permitted being brought into use details of the arrangements for monitoring of heavy goods vehicle movements to and from the site shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

Reason: to ensure that the development does not prejudice conditions of amenity and highway safety in accordance with Policy BNE2 of the Medway Local Plan 2003.