Agenda and minutes

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation at this point of the meeting.

i)       Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 13 December 2017, previously circulated.

Meeting of the Planning Committee held on 13 December 2017.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 13 December 2017 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members may make any declarations of interest at this point but may also make them at any time during the course of the meeting.

The Chairman commented that the applicant for planning application 136725 (agenda item 6(a)) was from the immediate family of an elected Member of council and therefore, for transparency, this should be declared for all Members of the Planning Committee.

Note – the status of Neighbourhood Plans in the District may be found via this link

https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/neighbourhood-planning/

The Planning & Development Manager explained he had several updates on changes to planning policy. He presented a summary of these changes and advised Members that his summary and links for more information would be included in the minutes of the meeting, as follows.

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

Following adoption of CIL at Council in November 2017, WLDC commenced CIL charging for all developments given planning permission after 22 January 2018.  Permissions granted before this date cannot have CIL applied retrospectively – this would include any site gaining Outline Planning Permission prior to 22 January too.

CIL was introduced by the Government to try to ensure that when land is developed, it comes with the necessary infrastructure to support it such as schools, public transport and leisure facilities.

As members will be aware, CIL will be charged on almost all new buildings to ensure that development contributes towards the infrastructure needed to support growth in an area. Exceptions to CIL charging, for example self-build development, are set out in guidance previously circulated to Members at full council. Previously many smaller developments made no specific contribution towards infrastructure, even though, collectively, they could place significant demands on local facilities. CIL will change this.

Planning Officer reports will include a section to show whether or not CIL is applicable to a development, including for any applications brought before Planning Committee to determine. More details at CIL can be found here: https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/my-services/planning-and-building/community-infrastructure-levy-cil/

5 Years Housing Land Supply Update

At the meeting of the Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee in January the Joint Planning Team delivered the latest update to the 5 year housing land position for Central Lincolnshire. Members will be aware that this update sits alongside the new Local Plan and sets out a delivery timetable for developments across the area. Planning authorities are required to maintain an annually updated housing supply report and to ensure that at least 5 years supply of developable land is in place across the plan area. Where this cannot be demonstrated the Local Plan may be considered out of date, as previously experienced in West Lindsey. For this reason, and as previously raised with Members, support for the strategic sites set out in the plan is essential in order to maintain a healthy supply position and ensure planning policies continue to carry full weight. 

The latest position is not significantly different to the previous annual report, however it does reflect a slightly reduced position. This results from the slowdown in on-site delivery of new homes rather than any reduction in granting planning permissions, which has been significant during the past 12 months. Therefore it is essential to work with the development industry to understand ways that the Council can assist in encouraging a higher pace of delivery of new homes across the area, where planning permissions have been granted. For this reason there is now a strong corporate focus on enabling development to encourage on-site delivery.

The five year supply report shows that the local plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

RESOLVED that the application detailed in agenda item 6 (a) be dealt with as follows:-

The Chairman introduced planning application 136724 for the demolition of an existing dwelling and the erection of a replacement dwelling, as a resubmission of application 135018. The Planning Officer advised there was no update for this application and there were no speakers.

It was enquired of the Planning Officer whether the application would have usually been agreed under the scheme of delegations, had it not been for the association with an elected member of the council. The Planning Officer confirmed this to be the case.

A Member of Committee enquired whether there were stipulations for the timeliness of the demolition of the existing dwelling. It was explained that planned work needed to commence within three years although there were no specifics as to when the demolition would need to take place. It was asked whether this meant that the existing dwelling could therefore be rented out if the owners so wished, it was confirmed this could happen.

There were no further questions or comments and it was therefore moved, seconded and voted upon with unanimous agreement that permission be GRANTED in accordance with the conditions as set out in the report.

·         132283 – Main Street, Torksey

·         135704 – Land South of Caistor Road, Swallow, Market Rasen

·         135807 – Land to the West of Scotter Road and South of Becks Lane, Scotton

·         136461 – 27 Spital Terrace, Gainsborough

The Chairman commented that it was very positive that all appeal decisions were upheld. It was agreed that this supported the work of the Planning Officers and the success of the Local Plan being used to inform planning decisions.

RESOLVED that the determination of appeals be noted.