Issue - meetings

Application for the construction of five detached dwellings, with associated garages, parking provision, access and landscaping.

Late items received after publication of agenda:

Consultations:-

1.1.    The Council's Arboricultural Officer has visited the site to ascertain if the tree has veteran status. They have concluded that while the tree is old is has limited veteran characteristics. Furthermore its A categorisation has not been given for Arboricultural or landscape reasons but appears to have been given for cultural values including conservation as a potential bat roost.

The tree does not meet the necessary Category A criteria of being high quality with estimated remaining life of more than 40 years. From a highway side inspection it is clear that T10 is not suitable for retention so close to the proposed new dwelling, and this would have been relayed to the developer by a professional arboriculturalist who would have recognised the visible stem decay as a structural defect likely to result in further failure. Building within the root protection area of a retained tree which will be a hazard to new residents is not only unprofessional but also incompetent.

At best the tree is considered Category C but with a full inspection it may be a Category U if there is a risk to the highway. As a result of these findings Reason 3 is withdrawn.

1.2.    An application for the provision on land north of the kennels on Kennel Lane of up to 50 dwellings was validated on 15 December (22/01190/OUT) and consultations and notifications will be being sent out this week.

1.3.    A further comment has been received from Witherely Parish Council;

“The Council does not feel it can add anything further by speaking about the application, but would like to submit some late additional information which may assist the Council, it is data from the vehicle activated speed signs (VAS) which are located on Kennel Lane, Witherley and count the number and speeds of vehicles travelling through the village.  The machine is moved between two locations on the road to allow the counting of the cars in both directions.  Some data is from the A5 into the village, and some data is from the village to the A5.

The number of vehicles and the speeds which they travel at have been a concern for this council or many years, and this machine was purchased in 2013.”

Application for the construction of five detached dwellings, with associated garages, parking provision, access and landscaping.

The applicant and the ward councillor spoke on this application.

It was moved by Councillor Bray, seconded by Councillor R Allen and

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