Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Committee received the report of the Assistant Director, Planning, and a presentation. The application was presented to the Development Management Committee because Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council had submitted a Major Objection. The officer clarified that there were drafting errors in the report. It was note that Section 5 of the report omitted the Northaw & Cuffley Neighbourhood Plan, referred to the Local Plan as “draft”.

Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council submitted the below statement which was circulated to members of the Committee:

“The fact that no one is present from the Parish Council to read this statement tonight should not be perceived as an indication that we are indifferent to this application. We are not. But we are unable to get anyone willing to attend any future DMC meetings just so they can be, at best ignored or at worse treated as a nuisance.

The Northaw & Cuffley Neighbourhood Plan was developed to give clarity and precision to some micro level planning decisions that were historically left to the judgement of the case officer. Over the years the individual judgments of various officers have led to a hotch potch of designs that this case officer refers to in their report. And yet the report recommends a continuation of this approach.

So by having a policy that clearly defines roof height in comparison to neighbouring properties is neither new or controversial. On this occasion the case officer has ignored the Neighbourhood Plan polices and reverted to a personal judgement. Indeed, Section 5 lists all the Planning Policy documents that relate to this application and omits any reference to the Neighbourhood Plan. This is not a discretionary document that Officers can choose to conform to or not. When it was approved by referendum it became a legal, statutory document – ignoring it is negligent and probably unlawful.

What is the point of having a Neighbourhood Plan when it is going to be ignored for no justifiable reason?

If this committee is minded to approve this application in its current form, it sends a very clear message to anyone considering a Neighbourhood Plan – that "we will always take the opinion of the case officer over any statutory plan" and adds further evidence that the current approach to planning in WHBC is not fit for purpose.

The recommendation that this application be approved subject to further proposals for the roof design, to be approved exclusively by the case officer, is a flagrant breech of the democratic process. Why split an application in to 2 parts – one part approved by this committee and the other part approved by the case officer? Why not ask the applicant to produce one final set of plans that everyone can comment.

Again, moving toward this approach to planning applications, questions the relevance and credibility of this committee.

We would like to explore the opportunity to find a solution can be found that meets the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan but this will mean WHBC Planning opening up a dialogue with the Parish Council – and we know that is being resisted, seemingly at all costs, by the current leadership. Yet another application before DMC that could be avoided.”

Members discussed the application and the main points raised are below:

·        Members felt the bungalow which currently exists at the site was out of character for the area.

·        It was felt that the property would be in keeping with the view of the area.

·        A member understood the Parish council’s concern about the height of the building.

RESOLVED

(12 in favour and 1 against)

The Committee approved the planning application.