Minutes:
The report before members detailed an application for landscaping works to a landfill site.
The application had previously been to Committee on 3 April 2014 with Members deferring the granting of planning permission to allow officers to seek additional information.
Members noted that the application had been called in by Councillor Linda Van den Hende on the grounds that it was considered that the proposal would be harmful to the openness and visual amenities of the Green Belt without any very special circumstances having been demonstrated. It was also considered that the proposal would be harmful to highway safety and amenity.
In accordance with the public speaking arrangements the Committee was addressed by an objector with a response by the applicant.
The objector commented that the proposed works would involve over six hundred vehicle movements on the site. The objector also commented that there was no need for the works to take place and that the proposal could increase the potential flood risk of the site in the future. The objector also commented that the change to the landscape would look unsightly and lead to problems of overlooking during the construction period.
In response the applicant commented that the scheme was environmentally friendly and was remedying the past problem of back filling of household waste on the site. The applicant also commented that the site was prone to flooding due to poor drainage and that the scheme proposed was only a modest raising of land levels. The applicant also confirmed that all vehicular movements onto and off of the site would be logged using waste transfer records which could be scrutinised by the Environment Agency.
With its agreement Councillor Van den Hende addressed the Committee.
Councillor Van den Hende commented that the land was situated in the Green Belt and was regularly farmed for wheat although a wider range of crops could be grown on the land. Councillor Van den Hende also commented that no special circumstances had been submitted by the applicant and that the proposed clay fill for the site was of a non-porous nature and could lead to future drainage problems.
During the debate members received clarification of the size of the piece of land in question and its proximity to neighbouring residential properties.
Views were expressed by a member that the report provided no very special circumstances which the Legal Advisor has highlighted in previous instances. The Legal Advisor clarified that in this case the proposed use was in policy terms an appropriate uses within the Green Belt, therefore there was no requirement to demonstrate very special circumstances.
Following a motion to refuse planning permission which was lost by 3 votes to 8. It was RESOLVED that planning permission be granted subject to the conditions as set out in the report.
The vote for the resolution to grant planning permission was carried by 8 votes to 2 with 1 abstention.
Councillors Oddy, Tebbutt, Bennett, Evans, Kelly, Light, Osborne and McGeary voted for the resolution to grant planning permission.
Councillors Hawthorn and Ower voted against the resolution to grant planning permission.
Councillor Deon-Burton abstained from voting.