Agenda item

To consider an application for the erection of 90no. dwellings, provision of a Local Area of Play, formation of vehicular connections, engineering works (including ground modelling and demolition), car parking and all associated infrastructure (including cycle and pedestrian connections and services provisions).

That the application 09/21/00030  Land Off A38, Bristol Road And A39, Bath Road And Bounded By M5 Motorway And Railway Line, Bristol Road, Bridgwater, Somerset be approved subject to a S106 agreement to provide Affordable Housing, management and maintenance of a LAP, planting and the acoustic bund/fence, Travel Plan (with the deletion of the condition previously stated) and subject to any NHS contributions requested after consultation on the application. Also to the conditions detailed within the report subject to the amendments as agreed.

The planning officer introduced the application to the committee with the aid of a power point presentation, He highlighted the following points to the members:

The application had been amended and the number of properties had been reduced to 90 dwellings.

The site had been approved for a mix of residential and employment land, however it had confirmed that the employment land was not needed as there was a good supply of alternative sites and it was also considered that the land would not be suitable due to the number of residential sites within the area.

It was confirmed that the farm buildings would be cleared from the site, a play area would be erected and that there would still be some open land in and around the Willow Man.

Highways in the surrounding estates were not yet adopted, however this was being dealt with and therefore there would be no impact on this new application site

A great deal of work had been undertaken in regard to an acoustic bund and fences plus the fabric of the buildings will be conditioned.

It was considered that the design of the properties was seen within the context of North East Bridgwater.

The planning officer also updated the committee as Condition 14 would need to be amended to ensure that acoustic measures work. Other conditions covered Ecology and Drainage issues. The planning officer also stated that there were minor drafting changes needed to conditions which would be agreed by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee.

The committee were addressed by a local resident who considered that there had been a great deal of development in the area to the detriment of the road network, with the roads in poor condition, parking issues and volume of traffic, the public transport was also poor.

The agent then spoke on the application stating that this was the final piece of the whole site with the infrastructure in place for the highways, drainage and that the number of dwellings had been reduced and that there would be 27 Affordable Homes. He also confirmed that they were happy with the Heads of Terms and that the amendments to the conditions were minor drafting issues.

In response to questions from Members, the planning officer advised:

That the area was already approved for development, traffic acceptable for the number of houses, they admitted that parking could be an issue but that was due to local residents, there was a bus service on Kings Drive, accepted that the state of the roads were an issue due to the building works on-going and that the roads were not yet adopted, however this could be resolved through the S38.

That the landscaping was conditioned.

Other conditions to be amended for minor changes included:

Conditions 4, 7, 12 and 16: grammatical changes

Condition 19: guidance note to be clarified

Condition 23: occupation and layout of the Local Area of Play

Members also asked for clarification with Condition 13 relating to noise levels which then led to discussion about the proposed bund and the trigger for delivery, it was confirmed that this was a pre-commencement condition and that all technical matters were covered by Condition 12, however members requested that the maintenance of the bund be included within the S106 agreement.; the planning officer confirmed that this was addressed in the recommendation to his report.

It was also questioned as to whether the NHS had made any comments or requests for contributions from the CIL payments, the planning officer confirmed that the resolution could be amended to ensure comments received as part of the consultation process.

Resolved:

That the application 09/21/00030  Land Off A38, Bristol Road And A39, Bath Road And Bounded By M5 Motorway And Railway Line, Bristol Road, Bridgwater, Somerset be approved subject to a S106 agreement to provide Affordable Housing, management and maintenance of a LAP, planting and the acoustic bund/fence, Travel Plan (with the deletion of the corresponding condition in the recommendation of the report) and subject to the amends to conditions 4,7,12, 16,19and 23, the amends and wording to these conditions to be delegated to the Service Director to be agreed in conjunction with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee and subject to any consultation response received from the NHS and in particular any contributions sought.

(For 5, Against 1, Abstentions 7)