Demolition of existing hotel and associated structures and erection of Class E foodstore with associated access, parking, servicing, drainage and landscaping.

Application approved, in accordance with the case officer’s recommendation.

Councillor Kevin Tillett left the committee to act as the local ward member for the following application.

The Principal Planning Officer provided a presentation of the application and the updates/representations received following the publication of the agenda, as provided in the update sheet and appended to the minutes.

In accordance with the criteria for public speaking a statement was read on behalf of Mr Machin, in objection to the application and Mr Waldren, the applicant’s agent, spoke in support of the application.

In accordance with the council’s constitution the adjoining local ward member spoke on the application. He explained that he was speaking on behalf of the three local members whose electoral divisions were materially impacted by the proposal. The proposed demolition of the three counties hotel constituted the loss of a community asset. There was a limited number of hotels locally and the existing hotel on the site was a useful facility for: visitors to the south side of the Wye; a venue for celebrations and conferences; and a public bar for the local community. There was concern that the proposal would adversely impact upon retail and footfall in the city centre which had been suggested by a report from JW Planning in assessment of the application. The design of the building was not felt to be sympathetic to the predominant red brick developments locally. There was concern regarding drainage on the site; until January 2024 the drainage officer had objected to the application. The drainage conditions required additional plans to be submitted therefore the committee did not have all necessary information in this area to come to a decision. There was also a concern that shopping trolleys from the supermarket would be disposed in local waterways and cause blockages and flooding. There was an error in the ecologist’s report concerning the identification of gulls in the local area and it was queried whether the rest of the report could be treated as credible. The critical issue concerning the site was traffic and highways problems; this was the overwhelming area of objection to the application. The highways assessments in the report were not plausible given the local knowledge of queuing traffic and congestion on the Belmont Road. The local highways did not have sufficient capacity for the development and there were safety concerns regarding the proposed right hand turn to exit the store.

The committee debated the application. There was division among the members of the committee.

There were objections to the development among some members of the committee who considered that:

-       The proposal would cause unacceptable impacts on highway movements, and the right hand turn exit from the site would pose highway safety concerns contrary to core strategy policies SS4 and MT1;

-       The design and scale of the building was out of keeping with the local area and the impact on the local area was unacceptable, contrary to core strategy polices SS6 and LD1; and

-       The proposal would undermine retail and footfall in the town  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70