Agenda item

Erection of 7no. animal shelters associated with Wildlife and Conservation Area and Animal Management Centre.

[Site Visit] [Rural West YorkWard]

Members considered a full application by Askham Bryan College for the erection of 7 animal shelters associated with the Wildlife and Conservation Area and Animal Management Centre.

Officers advised that condition 1 should be amended to include the revised location plan and that condition 5 should be amended to state that the existing hedge should be grown to a minimum of 3 metres and be retained at that height.

Ms Kathryn Jukes, Planning Consultant for Askham Bryan College, addressed the committee. She reminded Members that in 2013 planning approval had been given for a number of new buildings and alterations to the college to extend and update the teaching facilities to accommodate an increase in numbers and an extended curriculum. The planning application had included a new animal management centre and adjacent wildlife conservation area as well as paddocks with the intention of providing new teaching facilities for students in relation to more exotic animal species rather than simply farm animals. Since then the college has finalised the list of animals to be housed within the wildlife conservation area and had researched their habitat requirements. This meant the generic housing types included in the 2013 application needed to be updated to suit the needs of those animals the college was now to home. This application therefore included specific details of houses designed for specific small mammals as well as a number of gazebos for students to use by the dipping ponds. She acknowledged that the site was in the greenbelt but the needs of animals provided special circumstances to justify erection of modest structures as did the general college activity.

Some members raised the issue of the need to protect the openness of the green belt but acknowledged that this application was for the animal shelters within enclosures which had planning permission and that the new shelters were required for wellbeing of the animals. They accepted that very special circumstances had been demonstrated and that this would increase the opportunities for young people at the college.

Resolved:  That the application be approved subject to the conditions listed in the report and the amended conditions below:

Amended Condition 1

The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following plans:-

§  Drawing Number (0-)02 Revision B 'Wildlife and Conservation Area: Enclosure No. 11A and 11B' received 04 May 2016;

§  Drawing Number (0-)03 Revision B 'Wildlife and Conservation Area: Enclosure No.04' received 14 June 2016;

§  Drawing Number (0-)04 'Wildlife and Conservation Area: Enclosure No. 14' received 04 May 2016;

§  Drawing Number (0-)05 Revision A 'Wildlife and Conservation Area: Enclosure No. 7' received 04 May 2016;

§  Drawing Number (0-)06 Revision A 'Wildlife and Conservation Area: Enclosure No. 3' received 14 June 2016;

§  Drawing Number (0-)01 Revision H 'Wildlife and Conservation Area' received 14 June 2016;

§  Drawing Number 15/087/09 'Site Location Plan V2' received 14 July 2016;

Reason: For the avoidance of doubt and to ensure that the development is carried out only as approved by the Local Planning Authority.

Amended Condition 5

The existing hedge along the southern boundary between the A64 and the 2 no. shelters (referred to as (3) on Drawing Number (0-)01 Revision H 'Wildlife and Conservation Area received 14 June 2016) shall be grown to a minimum height of 3 metres and shall not, except with the prior approval in writing of the Local Planning Authority, be removed or reduced in minimum height below 3 metres above ground level at the hedge roots.

If in the circumstances that a tree/s or part of the hedge is removed details illustrating the number, species, height and position of the replacement trees and/or shrubs shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. This replacement planting shall be implemented within a period of six months of the original removal of the tree/s and/or hedge.

Reason: To prevent views of the shelters from the A64, and to ensure that the hedge provides adequate screening and does not harm the visual amenity of the transport corridor, or the openness of the greenbelt.

Reason:     The application site is located within the general extent of the York Green Belt and serves a number of Green Belt purposes. As such it falls to be considered under paragraph 87 of the NPPF which states inappropriate development, is by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances.

In addition to the harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, it is considered that the proposal would have a harmful effect on openness and that the proposal would undermine two of the five Green Belt purposes.

The applicant has advanced factors which they consider to amount to very special circumstances in respect of the proposal:-  principle set by 13/02946/FULM planning permission; and animal welfare.  Officers  have  considered the justification put forward by the applicant in support of the proposals and, having weighed these considerations against the harms that have been identified, has concluded that these considerations together with: the proposed facilities being required for the college to expand and compete and improve existing courses; and the proposed college facilities being required in proximity to the current campus and not reasonably being sited elsewhere  cumulatively, clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and other harms identified. It is concluded that very special circumstances do exist to justify the proposal.