Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor M H Jones.

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

In accordance with the provisions of the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interest was declared:

 

Councillor D W Cole – Minute No.84 – Planning Application 2015/1786 (Item1) – Personal as Member of Grovesend Town Council.

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Planning Committee held on 8 December 2015 be agreed as a correct record subject to Minute No.78 (Item1 – 2015/2074) being amended to add the following – Councillor D W Cole(Local Member) outlined his objections to the application on the material planning considerations of  Health and Safety and Access/Traffic Issues.

None.

The Head of Economic Regeneration and Planning presented a planning application.

 

Amendments to this schedule were reported and are indicated below by (#).

 

RESOLVED that:

 

(1) the undermentioned planning applications BE APPROVED subject to the

conditions in the report and/or indicated below:

 

#(Item 1) Planning Application.2015/1786 – Land associated with Castell Ddu Farm, off Ally-y-Graban Road, Pontarddulais

 

Condition 12 be amended to read as follows:

The works hereby approved shall be undertaken in accordance with the recommendations listed in Section 5 of the preliminary Ecological Appraisal report prepared by Wildwood Ecology (Ref: WWE150602.PEA.2) received on 9 September 2015.

Reason: To ensure the proposal has no impact upon protected species.

 

A visual presentation was provided.

 

The Head of Economic Regeneration & Planning reported that this application was reported to Planning Committee on 13 October 2015 with the recommendation that planning permission be approved subject to

conditions and subject to the applicant entering into a S106 planning

obligation.

 

Following initial searches by the Council’s Legal Services, it came to light

that part of the application site, which includes the access from Swansea

Road to the main body of the application site, is owned by the Council and is

covered by a 125 year Lease to Seetall Furniture.  As Seetall Furniture have a

lease of more than 7 years they are an “owner” under the Town and

Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Wales Order 2012

and should have had notice served on them under Article 10 of the Order to

formally notify them of the planning application.  It should be noted that the

correct notice had been served on the Council as the freeholder of this land.

 

The purpose of the notice is to make the owner aware of the applicant’s

intentions for the land.  Seetall Furniture made several written representations

objecting to the planning application and addressed the Planning Committee

at the meeting.  Seetall Furniture are therefore fully aware of the planning

application and the applicant’s intentions to develop the land.

 

In order to rectify this oversight, the applicant has confirmed that they have

served the correct notice on Seetall Furniture as required by the above

legislation.  To date no further response has been received from Seetall

Furniture. Following the advice of the Council’s Legal Services, it is not

considered that this procedural oversight would prejudice in any way the

planning merits of the development that are set out in the report nor would this

oversight prejudice the decision of the Planning Committee to resolve to

approve the development.

 

RESOLVED that Legal Services be notified that the correct notice has now been served on Seetall Furniture and that the Section 106 agreement can now be progressed in accordance with the recommendation to approve the development.  

 

The Chair stated that pursuant to paragraph 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, he considered that the report from the Head of Economic Regeneration and Planning on Planning Application No.2014/1906 should be considered at this meeting as a matter of urgency.

 

Reason for Urgency

An appeal has been submitted against the refusal of the planning application detailed below. The deadline for submission of the appeal statement is 26 January 2016. Due to this timescale and the possible costs implications associated with the appeal, an urgent decision is required so that if the recommendation is accepted, the relevant interested parties can be informed of the Council’s position.

 

The Head of Economic Regeneration and Planning reported that the

application was reported to Planning Committee on 13 October 2015 with the

recommendation that planning permission be approved subject to conditions.

Committee did not accept the recommendation for approval and the

application was refused for the following reasons:

1. The application provides insufficient amenity space within the curtilage of

the site for future residents of the proposed care home to the detriment of the

residential amenity they can reasonably be expected to enjoy. The

development is therefore contrary to Policy EV1 of the City and County of

Swansea Unitary Development Plan (2008).

2. The provision of inadequate car parking may lead to users of the premises

parking on the highway in close proximity to the proposed care home to the

detriment of the safety of highway users. The development is therefore

contrary to the criteria set out in Policies AS6 and HC15 of the City and

County of Swansea Unitary Development Plan 2008. 

 

An appeal has been submitted against the Local Planning Authority’s decision

to refuse the planning application. The appeal is to be considered by way of a

Hearing, the provisional date for which is 30 March 2016. The Local

Planning Authority’s appeal statement has to be submitted by 26 January

2016.

 

The appellant has indicated in the appeal documents that an application for

an award of costs is to be made against the Local Planning Authority’s

decision to refuse the application. The claim is to be made on the grounds

that the Council’s unreasonable conduct on refusing the application has

resulted in the appellant’s wasting and/or incurring expense unnecessarily.

Advice on the award of costs in planning appeals is included in Welsh Office

Circular 23/93 : ‘Award of Costs incurred in Planning and other (including

Compulsory Purchase Order) Proceedings’.

 

The circular states that Planning Authorities are not bound to adopt, or include

as part of their case, the professional or technical advice given by their own

officers, or received from statutory bodies or consultees. However, they will be

expected to show they had reasonable planning grounds for taking a decision

contrary to such advice, and be able to produce relevant evidence to support

the decision. If they fail to do so, costs may be awarded against the Authority.

 

In terms of reason 1, the ‘National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for

Younger Adults’, prepared as a statement of national minimum standards

applicable to care homes for younger adults made by the Minister for Health

and Social Services of the Welsh Assembly Government under the powers

conferred by section 23(1) of the Care Standards Act 2000, does not

prescribe any minimum external amenity space requirement. However, it

requires outdoor space to be proportionate to the number of service users and

staff on duty. The national minimum standards for older people requires at

least 4.1 square metres of communal space for each service user, amounting

to a requirement of 32.8 square metres for eight residents.  The rear garden

area of the appeal site amounts to some 164 square metres of private

amenity space. It is considered that this amount of space is proportionate for

the number of service users and on this basis, it is not considered that

relevant evidence to support reason 1 of for refusal can be produced.

 

The costs circular advises that the Local Planning Authority can minimise the

risk of an award of costs against them in an appeal, or the extent of any

award of costs, by notifying PINS and the appellant immediately if they

conclude, on re-examination of their case, that any of their reason for refusal

cannot be supported by substantial evidence and they confirm that they will

not be contesting the appeal in those respect. It is considered that in the

absence of sufficient evidence to support reason 1 of the refusal, the Local

Planning Authority should not contest this issue at appeal. The appeal would

then concentrate on the highway reason for refusal, for which it is considered

relevant evidence can be produced to support the decision to refuse the

application.

 

Councillor P B Smith (Local Member) addressed the Committee regarding the

application and the need to protect any future residents from potential road

safety issues and on the parking problems associated with the proposal.

 

RESOLVED the Local Planning Authority should not contest reason 1 of the refusal of planning application 2014/1906 at appeal, and that the Planning Inspectorate and the appellant be informed accordingly.        

The Head of Economic Regeneration & Planning presented a report which detailed the representations received during the consultation on the Ffynone & Uplands Conservation Area Review, and sought agreement for the proposed amendments to the draft guide and adopt it as Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).

 

A detailed presentation was provided to Committee which outlined the following areas:

·       What is a Conservation Area

·       Background and reasons behind the review

·       Aims of the review

·       Increased protection and boundary amendment to area covered

·       Public consultation undertaken and responses received

·       Local Member and Cabinet Advisory Committee input

·       Next steps

·       Article 4(2) Direction

 

RESOLVED that

1) the Ffynone & Uplands Conservation Area Character Appraisal and

Management Plan as set out at Appendix A to the report be adopted as

Supplementary Planning Guidance to UDP policy EV9.

 

2) the enlarged Conservation Area Boundary as set out in Appendix D to the

report be approved.

 

3) the serving of draft Article 4 Direction (to remove Permitted Development Rights) for selected properties as shown in Appendix E to the report and to protect all boundary walls be agreed.