Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bill, Crooks and Richards with the substitution of Councillor Cartwright for Councillor Bill authorised in accordance with council procedure rule 10.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2019.

It was moved by Councillor Witherford, seconded by Councillor Sutton and

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March be confirmed and signed by the chairman.

No interests were declared.

To report progress on any decisions delegated at the previous meeting.

Applications 18/01237/FUL and 18/01266/FUL which members were minded to refuse would be brought back to a future meeting – the latter having been subject to an appeal of non-determination and therefore members’ decision would only be a recommendation with the final determination being made by the planning inspectorate.

Application 18/01278/FUL which was deferred (and subsequently withdrawn from the agenda for this meeting) would come back to a future meeting following consultation on amended plans.

The decision on application 18/00118/FUL had been issued.

Application for erection of a detached garage (resubmission of 18/00375/HOU) (retrospective).

Application for erection of a detached garage (resubmission of 18/00375/HOU) (retrospective)

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Lynch and

RESOLVED – permission be refused for the reasons contained in the officer’s report.

Application for Deed of variation to amend section 106 agreement relating to application 10/00358/OUT to provide the provision of right to buy for 8, 9, 14, 51 and 53 Convent Drive.

Late items

Consultations:-

Following the production of the committee extract, a number of responses have been received from the occupants of the properties who are requesting the provision of voluntary right to buy. The responses received raise the following comments:-

1)    The applicant, Stonewater Homes, are providing 63 affordable housing units in the borough in Earl Shilton, thus replacing the loss of affordable units

2)    Not the first time the tenants have attempted to buy the property in the village has been thwarted

3)    All residents are settled within the community of Stoke Golding and have no plans to relocate

4)    Loss of 4 affordable units would not result in a significant loss of affordable housing stock, with 17 other properties within the development remaining as affordable units

5)    An agreement could be made between the applicant and HBBC ensuring that the applicant would reinvest some of the money received from the sale of the properties

6)    The tenants have a right to acquire the property

7)    The number of tenants wanting to participate in the scheme has been reduced, thus resulting in less of an impaction affordable housing

8)    Due to affordability and local market value, the tenants would be forced to leave the home due to aspirations of owning their own home and the area, contradicting advice given referring to long term impact

9)    Disruption to one of the occupants son's who has Autism and EHCP, the relocation would not allow him to attend the local school thus disrupting the currently stable and secure environment he benefits from

The HBBC Strategic Housing and Enabling Officer has made comments on the proposed amendment which is summarised below:

The loss of stock for affordable and social rent is always disappointing due to the pressures on the Council's housing register, which currently (14 March 2019) has 1525 applicants waiting for rehousing. However allowing existing tenants to exercise a right to buy would accord with the policies set out in the HBBC Housing Strategy 2018 - 2023, which has as a priority to develop pathways into home ownership to assist people who want their own homes to get onto the housing ladder. Weight should therefore be given to the fact that a right to buy is assisting people to meet their housing aspirations when they may not be able to enter owner occupation by any other means.

Appraisal:-

Comments have been received regarding whether the tenants have the right to acquire their property. Following comments from Legal Officers it is concluded that the tenants of these properties do not have the right to acquire as the Section 106 restricts this. Currently, in order to be able to sell the property to the tenant, the Housing Association needs to get the restriction removed, hence this application. The legal agreement was secured  ...  view the full agenda text for item 470.

Application for deed of variation to amend section 106 agreement relating to application 10/00358/OUT to provide right to buy for 8, 9, 14, 51 and 53 Convent Drive

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Hollick and

RESOLVED – modifications to the S106 agreement relating to planning permission 10/00358/OUT be refused for the reasons contained in the officer’s report.

Application for erection of a shipping container with associated 1.8m high fence.

Application for erection of a shipping container with associated 1.8m high fence

Notwithstanding the officer’s recommendation that permission be refused, some members felt that there was a proven need for the container and that timber cladding and screening could reduce the impact to an acceptable level. It was also felt that, as the site was agricultural land, this was an acceptable use.

Councillor Cartwright, seconded by Councillor Hollick, moved that the container be timer clad and screened with planting and trellis. Following discussion on the motion and the need to ensure that the surrounding hedges continued to provide some natural screening, Councillor Cartwright amended his motion to include delegation of conditions to officers. This amendment was supported by Councillor Hollick. Upon being put to the vote, the motion as amended was CARRIED and it was

RESOLVED –

(i)            Permission be granted subject to conditions including requiring the container to be timber clad and screened;

(ii)           The wording of conditions be delegated to officers.

Application for change of use from children's day nursery to a residential care home for children with education facility.

Late items

Introduction:-

The application was deferred at the last Committee. There is an update on the application on the Agenda. The applicant has also now provided a Fence detail drawing which shows the dividing fence between the application property and the neighbouring property to the east (no 144 Hinckley Road) at a height of 2.4 metres (Dwg no SK01, Scale 1:50 @ A4).

Consultations:-

 No additional consultations have been made.

Appraisal:-

The submitted fence detail is acceptable in regards to the appearance and scale, however the detail of the location of the fence to be erected has not been submitted. Therefore Condition 7 outlined in the committee report will need to remain, however condition 2 is amended to include the submitted plan for clarity.

Recommendation:-

The officer’s recommendation remains as an Approval with the following alteration to Condition 2 to read:

2.         The development hereby permitted shall not be carried out except in complete accordance with the details shown on the submitted unnumbered plans: Site Plan, Block Plan (un-numbered but both received by the local Planning Authority on 9th January 2019, Proposed floorplans of dwelling ground and first floor (un-numbered but received by the Local Planning Authority on 16th January 2019), Close boarded boundary fence detail , Dwg no SK01 (scale 1:50 @A4) received by the Local Planning Authority on 8 April 2019.

Reason: To ensure a satisfactory impact of the development to accord with Policies DM1 and DM10 of the adopted Site Allocations and Development Management Policies DPD.

Application for change of use from children’s day nursery to a residential care home for children with education facility

Notwithstanding the officer’s recommendation that permission be granted, members felt that the proposed use would have a detrimental impact on neighbours contrary to DM10 of the SADMP and that the committee needed to have due regard to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. It was moved by Councillor Roberts and seconded by Councillor Hollick that the committee be minded to refuse permission for these reasons.

Councillor Roberts along with four other members requested that voting on the motion be recorded. The vote was taken as follows:

Councillors Cartwright, Cook, Hodgkins, Hollick, Ladkin, Lynch, Roberts, Smith, Surtees, Sutton, Witherford and Ward voted FOR the motion (12);

There were no votes against the motion and no abstentions.

The motion was declared CARRIED and it was

RESOLVED – members be minded to refuse permission for the abovementioned reasons and the application be brought back to a future meeting for a decision.

Councillor Roberts left the meeting at 7.44pm.

Application for Deed of variation to amend section 106 agreement relating to application 12/00154/FUL to provide the provision of right to buy for no. 22 Jubilee Way.

Late items

Consultations:-

The HBBC Strategic Housing and Enabling Officer has made comments on the proposed amendment which is summarised below:

The loss of stock for affordable and social rent is always disappointing due to the pressures on the Council's housing register, which currently (14 March 2019) has 1525 applicants waiting for rehousing. However allowing existing tenants to exercise a right to buy would accord with the policies set out in the HBBC Housing Strategy 2018 - 2023, which has as a priority to develop pathways into home ownership to assist people who want their own homes to get onto the housing ladder. Weight should therefore be given to the fact that a right to buy is assisting people to meet their housing aspirations when they may not be able to enter owner occupation by any other means.

Appraisal:-

Hinckley and Bosworth have adopted a Housing Strategy 2018 to 2023 which whilst not a statutory planning document can be given some weight in the determination of this application as this document supports the councils Corporate Plan 2017 to 2021. This document identifies within key housing issue 2 that the councils aims are to:

'Develop pathways into home ownership to assist people who want their own homes to get onto the housing ladder.

For people who do not qualify for affordable housing, or who wish to leave social housing to buy their own home, we will:

• Provide information on the different types of home ownership and signpost them to appropriate professional advice
• Make greater use of the Choice Based Lettings website to advertise other tenure types in addition to social and affordable rent
• Produce literature to help people on the practicalities of moving house'

Some weight is given to this strategy as this forms part of the consideration of the amendment. However local planning policy has a significant weight in the decision of this application, with the relevant local plan policies ensuring that there is a differing mix and type of tenure options available within the development.

It is considered that the Local Plan Policies, specifically Policy 15 of the Core Strategy, are in accordance with the Housing Strategy as it requires a mix of tenure types on all sites. These mix of tenure types allow for pathways into homeownership whilst also retaining some affordable housing for rent. Both the Housing Strategy and the Local Plan focus upon increasing the availability of affordable dwellings within the borough. The planning policy and the housing strategy are therefore aligned and there is no conflict between the two.  The recommendation and accompanying assessment given in the committee report therefore remains unchanged.

It is understood that the tenants have the benefit of being assured tenants. For clarity an assured tenant has very strong rights and as such there are very limited reasons an assured tenancy can be brought  ...  view the full agenda text for item 473.

Application for deed of variation to amend section 106 agreement relating to application 12/00154/FUL to provide right to buy for no 22 Jubilee Way

It was moved by Councillor Sutton, seconded by Councillor Surtees and

RESOLVED – modifications to the S106 agreement relating to planning permission 12/00154/FUL be refused for the reasons contained in the officer’s report.

Application for erection of detached dwelling and a new vehicular access.

Late items

This application has been deferred as the applicant has now submitted an amended site layout plan to relocate the position of the proposed access. The application will be brought back to another Planning Committee for consideration when re-consultation on the amended plan has been undertaken.

Application for erection of detached dwelling and new vehicular access

It was noted that this application had been deferred as the applicant had submitted an amended layout plan to relocate the position of the proposed access. The application would be brought back to a future meeting when re-consultation on the amended plan had taken place.

To provide an update to Planning Committee on major schemes in the Borough that are currently being proposed or implemented.

Members noted the update on major schemes in the borough.

To report on progress relating to various appeals.

The committee received an update on progress in relation to various appeals. In response to a member’s question, it was noted that a decision was still awaited in relation to the appeal for 15 Ratby Road, Groby.