Agenda item

To consider an application for residential development comprising 25 dwellings, new vehicular access, landscaping, sustainable urban drainage and other associated infrastructure works.

Application for residential development comprising 25 dwellings, new vehicular access, landscaping, sustainable urban drainage and other associated infrastructure works.

The Officer’s Report stated that this application had been referred to the Planning Committee as the recommendation was to approve with conditions, but the Divisional Councillors had objected and called for a referral to the Planning Committee. 

The Report continued that, through the life of the application, consultation comments were received from the Urban Design Officer who recommended the attenuation pond originally proposed in the southern corner of the site, adjacent to the vehicular entrance, be replaced with an area of public open space.  The applicant followed this recommendation and submitted revised plans and drainage details accordingly. 

As revised plans and information had been received through the life of the application, consultation with the local community and statutory consultees had been undertaken as necessary. 

The Divisional Councillors had objected to the applications.

Frome Town Council had not objected to the application. Other consultees such as the Local Flood Authority, Highways and Environmental Protection had no objections subject to various conditions. However, Frome Civic Society had objected for reasons such as poor design, insufficient pedestrian and cycle links and affordable housing not dispersed throughout the site.

There had been 5 letters from local residents with neutral comments and 3 letters of objection. Comments included:

·        Highways safety concerns

·        Insufficient parking

·        Pedestrian and cycle connections into Printworks site required

·        Amenity – there should be 21 m distances required between properties

·        Insufficient planting

·        Insufficient biodiversity net gain

In conclusion, the Officer’s Report said that, as the Council could not demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply, the ‘tilted balance’ set out NPPF was engaged. This meant that residential proposals should only be refused if they would result in ‘significant and demonstrable harm’ which outweighed the benefits of the proposal. The scheme would be acceptable (subject to the inclusion of relevant conditions and obligations) in relation to impact on the character of the area; affordable housing provision; housing mix; education; highways, access and parking; contaminated land; refuse and recycling; trees; landscaping; carbon reduction; and ecology.  The Report went on to say that considering the application under the ‘tilted balance’. The harms were not considered ‘significant and demonstrable’ and therefore the Officer Recommendation was for approval, subject to planning conditions and the prior completion of a S106 legal agreement.

The Planning Officer explained the application to the Committee with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation.

Councillor Shane Collins then spoke. He advised he was one of the Division Members. He made the following points:

·        Heat pumps require electricity and proper insulation to be effective.

·        Developers should be building houses to exceed the requirements of the national regulations, not just meet them.

·        Would like to see houses built to Passivhaus standards. They may be more costly to build but running costs would be reduced.

·        Provision of an electric bicycle per household rather than just EV charging points would be preferable.

·        Car parking provision was too high – on average more than 2 per dwelling.

·        The proposal did not meet the Council’s aim to be zero carbon and he hoped the Planning Committee would ask for solar panels, batteries, better insulation and the provision of ebikes.

Next to speak was the representative from Persimmon Homes, who was the applicant. He said:

·        The provision of 8 affordable homes made it compliant with NPPF regulations.

·        The site was redundant brownfield land.

·        The applicant had worked with Frome Town Council who fully support the application.

·        The issue of parking had been addressed with Highways and now met the needs of the town and residents.

·        The public open space will provide wildflowers, fruit trees and will create biodiversity.

·        The development will have no reliance on gas boilers and will provide air source heat pumps which are a much more environmentally friendly method of heating.

In the Committee discussion which followed, the following points were made:

·        The application was an improvement on the first one and pleased to see it linked to the Printworks site.

·        Too many detached dwellings – should be more semi-detached which would help with the insulation of the properties.

·        Pleased with the provision of air source heat pumps but would have liked to see solar panels.

·        The gardens were too small for sustainability to allow occupants to grow their own food. Could permitted development rights be removed to prevent owners from building on the already small gardens?

·        Concern about the cost of running the air source heat pumps and the noise emitted.

·        Concern about land contamination, which if found to be a problem, might lead to ‘viability’ issues for the developer and result in them reapplying for permission with fewer affordable homes.

In response to some of these comments, the Planning Officer advised that the provision of parking spaces was in line with the requirements of the Highway Authority and was dependent on the number of bedrooms. She also confirmed that the provision of solar panels had been discussed with the applicant, but that the application had been considered acceptable without. The electricity supply for running the heat pumps was sufficient and there were permeable materials proposed for the shared public spaces.  She also made the point that recommended Condition 5 would cover the possibility of noise disturbance from the heat pumps and that there was no justification to remove permitted development rights. Finally, she confirmed that the full suite of contaminated land conditions was recommended.

At the conclusion of the debate, it was proposed by Councillor Heather Shearer and seconded by Councillor Susannah Hart that the application be approved in accordance with the Officer’s Recommendation set out in the Report. On being put to the vote the proposal was carried with 10 votes in favour and 1 against.

RESOLVED

That planning application 2021/0050/FUL be approved in accordance with the Officer’s Recommendation.