Agenda item

Reason for Urgency:  This development was business critical for the applicant.

It was agreed that there appeared to be strong justification for an agricultural building, however the proposed site for the building was on top of a site of archaeological interest and would involve substantial groundworks..  There had been long negotiations with the applicant, regarding the addition of a standard monitoring condition, which the applicant had to agree to in advance as there would be a pre-condition, but the applicant was not prepared to undertake the suggested scheme of archaeological monitoring to mitigate the impact of the proposed development because of the cost. 

The following persons had submitted comments on the report:

·         Mr K Smith, Authority Member

·         Cllr G Heath, Authority Member

·         Mr R Ford

·         Thompson Wright Limited

·         Mr G Grindey

·         Ms L Slack, Authority Member

The comments made were considered.

RESOLVED:-

That the application be REFUSED for the following reason

The groundworks works associated with the construction of the new agricultural building have the potential to encounter and destroy surviving belowground archaeological remains associated with historic mining and agricultural activity.  This will result in permanent and irreversible harm to the archaeological interest of the site. The large amount of groundworks required would potentially result in in the complete loss of a section of archaeological remains that are likely to have previously been disturbed and which are of local significance. The applicant is not prepared to undertake the suggested scheme of archaeological monitoring to mitigate the impact of the proposed development. As such, this application is contrary to Policy L3 of the Core Strategy, Development Management Policy DMC5 and Para. 197 of the NPPF.