Agenda and minutes

This meeting is to be webcast and the Senior Democratic Services Officer will read the following announcement:

”I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live to the internet (or filmed) and will be capable of repeated viewing (or another use by third parties).

If you are seated in the lower public seating area then it is likely that the recording cameras will capture your image and this will result in the possibility that your image will become part of the broadcast.

This may infringe your human and data protection rights and if you wish to avoid this then you should move to the upper public gallery.

Could I please also remind Members to activate their microphones before speaking.”

The Senior Democratic Services Officer made a short address to remind everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the internet, and would be capable of repeated viewing, which could infringe their human and data protection rights.

(Director of Governance) General advice to people attending the meeting is attached.

The Chairman welcomed members of the public to the meeting and outlined the procedures and arrangements adopted by the Council to enable persons to address the Committee, during the determination of applications for planning permission. The Committee noted the advice provided for the public and speakers in attendance at Council Planning Committee meetings.

(Director of Governance)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting in accordance with Council Rule S1 in the Constitution (Part 4 “The Rules” refers).

The Committee noted the following substitutions for this meeting:

(a)        Cllr Sunger for Cllr Rolfe; and

(b)        Cllr H Kane for Cllr Shiell.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report for the complete refurbishment of Chigwell Primary Academy and enabling residential development comprising 59 no. residential properties together with associated off-street parking, a dedicated parking court for existing residents, garden space, new vehicular accesses from High Road (A113) and Vicarage Lane, external landscaping and associated development.

The Assistant Director of Governance (Development Management) introduced a report for the complete refurbishment of Chigwell Primary School and enabling residential development comprising 59 residential properties together with associated off-street parking, a dedicated parking court for existing residents, garden space, new vehicular accesses from the High Road (A113) and Vicarage Lane, external landscaping and associated development. The application was before the Committee as it was classified as a ‘large scale major’ development as defined within the guidance issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

The Assistant Director stated that the application site comprised the Chigwell County Primary School and the former BI Sports Ground fronting the High Road and extending along Vicarage Lane and the full length of the access road serving the School. The School comprised a mixture of single storey buildings dating from between the 1930’s and 1960’s, and a number of temporary classrooms; there were three principal School buildings. All buildings on the former Sports Ground had been removed above ground level and the land was mainly given over to scrubland, other than an access on Vicarage Lane and the mature tree screens that laid around and within the land. The surrounding area comprised a mixture of residential and non-residential uses, and there were three listed buildings opposite the site on the High Road. All of the land within the site boundaries was inside the metropolitan Green Belt, but the site laid outside the Chigwell Conservation Area which abutted it. Much of the site was covered by group Tree Preservation Orders and a number of trees were subject to individual orders; there were also two public rights of way crossing the site.

The Assistant Director reported that the current application was based upon previous submissions. The original planning permission had sought to refurbish the School within the existing buildings with an enabling development of 32 houses (submitted in outline only). Revised proposals for the School were approved in March 2017 as a minor amendment to the original permission. The current application had been submitted on the basis that the revised proposal for the School was not viable without additional enabling development. The associated development now comprised 59 residential units, submitted as a full application, and consisted of 7 x 2-bedroom flats, 15 x 3-bedroom houses, 13 x 4-bedroom houses, 23 x 5-bedroom houses and 1 x 7-bedroom house. All of the houses were detached and would be provided with a minimum of 2 parking spaces each and private gardens.

The Assistant Director reminded the Committee that this application had previously been deferred at the last two meetings of the Committee when it had been recommended for refusal, pending discussions between the Applicant and Planning Officers principally concerning the provision of affordable housing. Following further discussions in January 2018, the Applicant had accepted that an additional contribution of £1million towards the provision of off-site affordable housing should be made. Whilst this remained below the full assessment originally requested by the Council, consideration had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

(Director of Governance) Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 requires that the permission of the Chairman be obtained, after prior notice to the Chief Executive, before urgent business not specified in the agenda (including a supplementary agenda of which the statutory period of notice has been given) may be transacted.

It was noted that there was no other urgent business for consideration by the Committee.

Exclusion

To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers

Article 17 (Access to Information) of the Constitution defines background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

The Council will make available for public inspection one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers for four years after the date of the meeting. Inspection of background papers can be arranged by contacting either the Responsible Officer or the Democratic Services Officer for the particular item.

The Committee noted that there was no business which necessitated the exclusion of the public and press from the meeting.