Decision details

It was noted that, John Scott, Director of Planning, knew the applicant through a Member of his family. He confirmed that although it was not a close personal relationship he had not been involved in processing this application.

It was noted that Members had visited the site on the previous day.

The following spoke under the public participation scheme:

·         Mr Roger Ryder, Agent

The officer recommendation was moved, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

To refuse the application for the following reasons:

1.         By virtue of its siting in an elevated position, above the existing residential properties that front on to Buxton Road, the proposed dwelling would be a prominent and incongruous addition to the street scene that would fail to reflect or respect the existing pattern of built development within the local area, would be unneighbourly, and would detract from the valued characteristics of the local area. Therefore, the proposals are contrary to national planning policies in the Framework, and do not accord with policies GSP1, GSP2, GSP3 and L1 of the Core Strategy or saved Local Plan policies LC4 and LH1.     

2.         The proposed dwelling would fail to preserve the special qualities of the designated Ashford in the Water Conservation Area and would detract from the significance of this heritage asset because the newly-built house and associated track would be constructed on an important open green space in the Conservation Area but the proposed development would not be sensitive to the special qualities of the open space including its positive contribution to the setting of the village. Therefore, the proposals conflict with core planning principles in the Framework and do not accord with policy L3 of the Core Strategy or saved Local Plan policy LC5.

3.         By virtue of the orientation of the access track, its overall length, its poor relationship with existing landscape features, and a section that would be especially visible from public vantage points, the access track would detract significantly from the character of the surrounding landscape and the setting of the Conservation Area in its own right, and the adverse visual impact associated with the track would be exacerbated by the prominent and elevated location of parking provision for the proposed dwelling. Furthermore, a demonstrably safe and convenient access to the property for emergency vehicles, service vehicles such as bin lorries and for future occupants of the property could not be achieved without further adverse impacts on the environmental quality of the local area. Therefore, the proposals conflict with core planning principles in the Framework and do not accord with policies T1 and T3 of the Core Strategy or saved Local Plan policies LT11 and LT18.

Cllr A R Favell joined the meeting at 10.33am following consideration of this item.