Demolition of 2 no. agricultural buildings. Proposed 4 no. dwellinghouses with garages, landscaping and associated works.

Application approved in accordance with the case officer’s recommendation and an update to the conditions.

The Development Management North Team Manager provided a presentation on the application and the updates/representations received following the publication of the agenda.

In accordance with the council’s constitution the local ward member spoke on the application. In summary, he explained that the committee had deferred the application at an earlier meeting due to concerns regarding the scale and design of the proposed houses and the layout of the site. Recent representations on the amended design had commented that the primary change was the detachment of the link garages and the relocation of a building further to the West of the site. It was queried whether this was sufficient to respond to the concerns of the committee and whether the amended plans made best use of the space on the application site. The sense of detaching the garages was queried as it was felt this would undermine the energy efficiency of houses. It was noted that the design of the houses had not changed and limited changes to the site layout had not considered a different orientation of the properties to make better use of the space on the site.

The committee debated the application and raised the principal points below:

·       The design of the houses had not changed since the previous submission of the application to the committee. It was felt that the use of brick rather than black cladding was more in-keeping with the local vernacular.

·       It was noted that there was no mention of EV charging points or renewable energy generation in the conditions proposed for the application.

The Development Manager explained that:

·       The design of the buildings was consistent with the new properties adjacent to the application site which had been approved on appeal. It was felt that refusing the application on the design of the houses would not be defendable on appeal.

·       The EV charging point was a requirement of building regulations and would be implemented at this stage of the application. Condition 14 attached to the application could be updated to include a requirement for facilities for renewable energy generation.

A motion was proposed by Councillor Bruce Baker and seconded by Councillor Allan Williams that the application be approved in accordance with the case officer’s recommendation and an update to condition 14 to include a requirement for renewable energy generation on the houses.

The motion was put to the vote and was carried by a simple majority.

RESOLVED:

That subject to the completion of a Section 106 Town & Country Planning Act 1990 obligation agreement the form or substantially in the form annexed to this report , officers  named in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers are authorised to grant planning permission,  subject to the conditions below, an update to condition 14 below to include a requirement for renewable energy generation on the properties and any other further conditions considered necessary.