Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Ayre declared a personal interest as the Chair of Derwenthorpe Transport Sub Committee.

Councillor Williams declared a personal interest as an employee of Yorkshire Water.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 17 May 2012.

RESOLVED:                That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 May 2012 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record subject to the following amendment:

                                      Councillor Burtons name be added to the attendees list to reflect that he was present at the meeting as a substitute for Councillor Merrett.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered their wish to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is by 5pm on Wednesday 25^th July 2012. Members of the public can speak on specific planning applications or on other agenda items or matters within the remit of the committee. To register please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of this agenda.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Councillor Warters had registered speak under the general remit of the Planning Committee. He referred to construction vehicles using residential roads leading to the Derwenthorpe site and pointed out that the photographic survey is now out of date and there has been no dilapidation survey. He suggested that the procedures surrounding these surveys should be made simpler.

Members considered the reports of the Assistant Director (Planning and Sustainable Development) relating to the following planning applications, which outlined the proposals and relevant planning considerations and set out the views of the consultees and officers.

Variation of condition 8 of approved application 03/02709/OUT (Derwenthorpe Scheme) to allow 277 dwellings to be accessed from Fifth Avenue, 74 dwellings to be accessed from Meadlands, 125 dwellings to be accessed from Temple Avenue and 64 dwellings to be accessed from Osbaldwick Village.

Members considered a major outline application by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust for the variation of condition 8 of approved application 03/02709/OUT (Derwenthorpe Scheme) to allow 277 dwellings to be accessed from Fifth Avenue, 74 dwellings to be accessed from Temple Avenue and 64 dwellings to be accessed from Osbaldwick Village.

Officers provided an update. 3 additional letters had been received in response to the scheme, 2 in objection from residents of Fifth Avenue and one from a resident of Meadlands.

Tom Hughes of Meadlands Residents Association spoke in objection to the scheme. He referred to paragraph 3.14 of the committee report which stated that residents of Fifth Avenue had written letters, one of which suggested that the ‘proposal overburdens Fifth Avenue to appease Osbaldwick and Meadlands residents’. He advised that this was not the case and Meadlands should not have been considered for access in the first place. He felt that the JRHT had not taken into account views of residents when developing access.

Jenny Hubbard of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust spoke to advise that there would be no construction traffic using Meadlands and that the reason for the application was to provide suitable access for the 41 dwellings within Neighbourhood D whilst improving  the safety of the route for cyclists and pedestrians so to attract people out of their vehicles.

Councillor Warters spoke as Ward Councillor. He referred to a letter dating back to July 1992 from the Chief Planning Officer of Ryedale District Council which suggested that Fifth Avenue should be the primary access to the Derwenthorpe site.

Following the registered speakers, members had no further questions or comments. Approval was moved and seconded.

RESOLVED:                That the application be approved, subject to the Section 106 Agreement.

REASON:                     In the opinion of the Local Planning Authority, the proposal improves the internal layout of a scheme that offers wider benefits for the City in terms of meeting the City's housing requirements in a sustainable location and adopting sustainable construction methods.  It would reduce the potential conflict with users of the Sustrans cycle track.  The housing scheme, as varied by this permission, would not cause undue harm to interests of acknowledged importance, with particular reference to highway safety, air quality, planning against crime or residential amenity.  As such, the proposal complies with the aims and objectives of the National Planning Policy Framework or Yorkshire and The Humber Regional Spatial Strategy or Policies GP1, GP3 and G4b of the City of York Development Control Local Plan.

A reserved matters application for the details of landscaping for phase 2 of a residential development granted under outline permission 03/02709/OUT.

Members considered a reserved matters application by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust for details of landscaping for phase 2 of residential development granted under outline permission 03/02709/OUT.

Officers provided an update, full details of which are attached to the online agenda, but included details of responses received to the additional information on the local area of equipped play and revisions made by the Councils Landscape Architect.

Tom Hughes of Meadlands Residents Association referred to page 44 of the agenda. He pointed out that flooding occurs on Temple Avenue and queried why this flood zone wasn’t mentioned in the officers report. He raised concerns about the land being sufficiently changed by the development to cause additional flooding in the area.

Councillor Warters spoke as Ward Member. He commented that he had been pleased to have some input into the proposals that they would be more naturalistic. He urged the JRHT to consider using local landscape architects and tradesmen for the work. He suggested that the land surrounding the Sustrans cycle track could be worked on by students of Askham Bryan College.

Members questioned the comments made by Tom Hughes in relation to flooding. Officers confirmed that flooding had been dealt with satisfactorily in the outline planning permission and that the application before members today was for landscaping only.

RESOLVED:                That the application be approved.

REASON:                     In the opinion of the Local Planning Authority the proposed, landscaping  subject to the conditions listed above, would not cause undue harm to interests of acknowledged importance, with particular reference to visual amenity, planning against  crime and nature conservation and enhancement.  As such the proposal complies with the aims and objective of the National Planning Policy Framework and Polices GP1, GP3, GP9, NE1 and NE7 of the City of York Development Control Local Plan.