Agenda and draft minutes

To note any substitution of Committee Members made in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Goldwater with Cllr Jones substituting and from Cllr Walsh with Cllr Musk substituting.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2024  (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2024 were approved as a correct record.

No notifications for urgent business were received.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Principal Development Management Officer introduced the application which sought full planning permission for the erection of a detached two storey building with accommodation at lower ground level comprising 9 apartments following demolition of existing property with associated bin and cycle storage and car parking provision. The reason for committee consideration was because Welwyn Parish Council raised a major objection to the application on the following grounds:

1. The proposal represents over-development of the site.
2. Inadequate parking spaces.
3. Development does not respect neighbourhood buildings and surrounding context in terms of height, mass and scale.

Hayden Dicker, agent for the applicant, addressed the Committee as follows:

The application site currently contains a single dwelling on an oversized plot. The application seeks its demolition for the erection of nine flats built within a structure that has an external appearance for large dwelling that sits more comfortably within the plot and the street scene. Something which has already been approved and built on a number of different sites at New Road, specifically at Numbers 40, 52, 59, 61 and 63. It must be noted that for half of these applications they had received an objection from the parish council resulting at them being heard at this committee and all of these were subsequently

approved by this committee.

This is the same case for this application as despite the officer recommendation for approval the objection from the parish is the same reason for being discussed here tonight. I will consider each of their objections in turn below.

In terms of the masking character the parish considered the proposals as an overdevelopment of the plot impacting the character of the area. This isn't the case however, with the officer's report citing the other similar approvals along New Road, stating that these applications have been approved on the basis that the large, detached buildings which house the flats generally appear as detached dwellings, which preserve the character of the area. As such, the principle of a flatter development of this density is established in the area

and the proposal would be compatible with the surrounding residential area.

This led to the conclusion of the officer that the development would be in keeping with the overall visual character of the area and would be of a good standard of design.

The second point raised by the parish related to inadequate parking standards.

The application provides 15 parking spaces, a figure that exceeds the 13.5 spaces required and is therefore fully in accordance with the council's parking standards. Please also note that there were no objections raised by Hertfordshire County Council in relation to the highway aspects of the application including the new access which has improved visibility for the site.

The third objection from the parish relates to how accessible the site is. Being located within the village of Digswell the site is only a four-minute walk away from a general store and from Welwyn North railway station. This led to the officer concluding that the site  ...  view the full minutes text for item 199.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Assistant Director, Planning introduced the report relating to the performance of the Development Management Service over the last two quarters, July to December 2024.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

·         A member asked what a career grade planner is.

·         The Assistant Director for Planning explained that a career grade planner goes from entry level planner up to a top end senior. Planner level one, planner level two, senior level one senior level two in a career grade will take you through those ranks.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the content of this report.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Assistant Director, Planning introduced the report.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the report.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Assistant Director, Planning introduced the report.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

• A member noted there were a couple more applications from New Road coming through.

• A Member asked what stage the Shredded Wheat factory was at.

• The Assistant Director for Planning confirmed there had been significant progress on North site and developer has been going through a pre application process with officers. They had intended to submit an application just before Christmas which hasn’t happened and is expected this month or next.

• A member commented that Thundridge Yard appeared on the list twice with two different call ins and queried the call-in dates of 2016 and how quickly they would be taken off the books.

• The Assistant Director for Planning responded that the ones that have been on there for a substantially long time relate generally to gypsy and traveller pitches. At the time these applications were submitted there wasn’t an adopted local plan and the view was to wait until there was one. Now we are working with the applicants to align what is on the site and what the proposals are they are in and then to make them align to what the local plan allocations are.

• A member brought up Oak Site and informed that they’ve moved into the highways next door, taken down trees, cleared it and there’s a digger on there today. It’s not just the planning application, it’s the taking of other people’s land.

• The Assistant Director for planning confirmed that he had been out to visit the site with Cllr Kingsbury and with highways. There is a bit of ongoing work there investigating what’s going on but also there’s quite a complex situation with land ownerships and looking at who owns what bit of land because it’s not neat, tidy, rectangular parcels of land.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the report.