Agenda item

The Policy Planner and Culture Heritage Team Manager attended the Committee to present the final draft of the Conversion of Historic Buildings Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to Members, subject to any amendments, to adopt as an SPD.

The Policy Planner informed Members that is was not a replacement for the Design Guide but a technical supplement to provide clarification and guidance to deliver  Development Management Policy DMC10.  An Informal consultation process had already taken place with 19 representations being received and that following the consultation process, a few amendments had been made to the SPD text so the wording was now more aligned to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The SPD will be published on the Authority Website with the Adoption Statement and the statutory consultees and anyone that made a representation would be notified.  There would then be 6 week period for any Judicial Review Challenge from the date of publication.

Members noted that although the document focussed on buildings, it also reflected the need to address the setting of buildings, but Members would like to see something that reflected the wider landscape rather than the  immediate setting of buildings,  so asked whether the wording of 3.5 in the draft SPD document could be amended to read “A successful building conversion responds appropriately to its surroundings, including the wider landscape”.

Officers recorded a range of other comments during the item and Members were asked for any final comments to be sent to the Head of Planning and to the Policy Planner in the next week, so that they could be considered in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of Planning Committee.

Members thanked Officers for a first class document which will prove helpful to both agents and applicants, and would be a positive addition to what we have, providing flexibility, whilst at the same time reflecting our policies and the intentions of the NPPF.

A motion to approve the recommendation for approval in accordance with the Officer recommendation was moved, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED