Agenda item

To determine the application.

Tom Donnelly presented the report to members.

Members asked questions of officers as follows:

·         Councillor Mrs French asked why this application has taken 5 years to come before committee? David Rowen responded that it is an application that has quite a lot of different elements within it in terms of the viability side and also the highway works. He continued that whilst officers aim to determine applications quicker than this there have been a number of delays, several of which do rest with the applicant in terms of providing the necessary information.

·         Councillor Mrs French stated that she does not see any recommendations or any discussions with any of the drainage boards and there are drains in this vicinity. She asked if it known if the applicant has been in discussion with the drainage boards? David Rowen responded that Middle Level were consulted but as members are aware it can be selective in the applications that it comments upon and it is not a statutory consultee and as a consequence no representation has been received. Councillor Mrs French stated that she does have a drainage board meeting tomorrow and she will raise this with them. She added that at a meeting last week they are working on a new policy and hopefully working with Fenland’s Planning Team to see if some of the issues can be resolved.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough asked about mitigation in terms of the sewage pumping station and the odour coming from this as it is 15 metres away and also an explanation on the covenant that restricts development to 10 dwellings? David Rowen responded that, in terms of the impact of the sewage pumping station, Environmental Health have been consulted and have raised no concerns on any environmental effects, which is set out at 5.5 of the officer’s report. He continued that covenants are not a material planning consideration and is a separate legal issue for whoever imposed that covenant to deal with.

·         Councillor Gerstner asked for an explanation on how the viability study was carried out and that there is no affordable housing and how the Section 106 money came to that figure? David Rowen responded that the requirements of the legal agreement is set out at 10.37 of the officer’s report which is basically to secure a contribution of £300,000 to be split between the NHS receiving £13,755 and towards off-site affordable housing of £186,244. He continued that the application has undertaken a viability assessment and as intimated earlier in the response to Councillor Mrs French’s question this is one of the reasons why it has taken so long to get to the determination stage, with the background to this all within the report.

·         Councillor Gerstner asked who does the affordable housing money go to? David Rowen responded that this will be put in the ‘pot’ that the Council has to deliver affordable housing around the District. Councillor Gerstner asked at what stages will that money be paid? David Rowen responded that this will still need to be decided as part of the Section 106 Agreement but the housing units themselves are, at this stage, in outline so a reserved matters detailed scheme would need to be submitted. He continued that he would guess that the triggers would need to be a certain number of units provided on site to deliver the contribution but it will be delivered before the completion of all 16 units.

·         Councillor Mrs French asked why it is taking months and months to get Section 106 Agreements signed? David Rowen responded that he did not think that this was a matter relevant to this application and should be a separate enquiry to either himself or the Head of Planning outside of the meeting.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Mrs French stated that due to the length of time this application has taken to come to a determination, being sure all the details have been worked out, she does not think there is much need for deliberation.

·         Councillor Gerstner stated that this is a brownfield site and thinks it is an ideal opportunity to build on it.

Proposed by Councillor Mrs French, seconded by Councillor Gerstner and agreed that the application be GRANTED as per the officer’s recommendation.