For:      Border Oak Design & Construction Ltd   

To consider an application that was deferred at the previous meeting for further information.   

Ward: Golden Cross with Weobley

The Northern Team Leader reported the receipt of further correspondence from the applicants in support of their application.  He said that at the previous meeting the Committee had decided to defer the application for further information about affordable housing in Weobley.  The Housing Needs and Development Manager said that the Housing Needs Survey published in 2007 had revealed that ten households required affordable rented housing within the village, and that a further three preferred shared ownership accommodation. In addition, Home Point, the affordable housing waiting list, contained twenty-nine households in Weobley, which required affordable housing there.  Nineteen of these had a need to move to more suitable accommodation which was affordable and seven of the nineteen were inurgent housing need.  She advised that the housing stock in the village had a reasonable turnover but that more than 50% of turnover in the last five years had been in respect of accommodation for those over fifty-five.  Of the remaining lettings, only fifteen homes were let to local families.

Councillor JHR Goodwin, the Local Ward Member, noted the views of the officers but reiterated that there was considerable local support for the scheme.  He felt that although the proposal did not meet the requirements for affordable housing, there were a number of key factors that needed to be taken into consideration which could meet the requirements of planning policies DR1, H5 and HBA6.  Following the rejection of the original application because its access was through Chapel Orchard, the applicants had gone to considerable lengths to prepare a scheme in keeping with the area and its setting near to an ancient monument.  A revised access directly from Hereford Road had resulted in less land being available for development and he felt that a higher density would be detrimental to the setting of the site and not be in keeping with the historic village.  He said that the village already had a good provision of affordable housing on other sites and questioned the need for more at this location. 

The Northern Team Leader reiterated why the proposal did not fulfil the Council’s planning policies and said that the scheme needed to be comprised of twelve dwellings, including four affordable.  The Forward Planning Manager said that the site had been identified in the UDP for the inclusion of affordable housing and that this had been confirmed by the Planning Inspector at the UDP Inquiry.  The Development Control Manager was of the view that a reduction to six units with no affordable housing could not be justified.  Any affordable units built in Weobley would be prioritised for local families and this would be secured through a S106 Agreement which would form part of the Planning Permission.  Such an agreement would ensure that the properties remained affordable and for local people in perpetuity.  There was also the fact that an unwelcome precedent would be set if a developer was allowed to undermine the UDP by halving the number of units to be provided, and excluding any affordable housing. 

Having carefully considered all the facts regarding the application, the Committee decided that the application could not be approved because it constituted a serious breach of the Council’s planning policies. 

RESOLVED

That planning permission be refused for the following reasons:-

1       The proposed development is of a density of individual housing units that fails to comply with Policies H5 and H15 in the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007 and guidance as stated in Planning Policy Statement 3:  Housing.

2       The complete absence to make provision for affordable housing is contrary to Policies H5 and H9 of the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007, Regional Planning and Policy Planning Policy Statement 3:  Housing.

3       The overall layout, design and scale of the development is such that it does not reinforce the local built character and appearance of the locality, particularly by reason of the scale, mass, materials and design of the proposed new houses. in which the application site is located.  Therefore the proposal is contrary to Policies DR1, H15 and HBA6 of the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007.