Agenda item

Note:              Councillor P. Morris left the Chamber at 8.20 pm for this item.

The Chairman introduced application number 144830, seeking removal of condition 21 of planning permission 139273 granted 31 May 2019 re: storage of materials, goods, waste or any other articles (relating to development of 17no. rural enterprise units, consisting mainly of business use along with a retail unit, cafe and office. Demolition of existing buildings), at Hillcrest, Grimsby Road, Caistor, Market Rasen, LN7 6LG. The Officer informed Members of the Committee that there was an update to the report, with an additional objection received from Hillcrest House, which was summarised as urging refusal and enforcement against existing alleged breaches. A short presentation was then given by the Officer on the application, and the current state of the site.

The Chairman invited the first registered speaker, the agent for the applicant, Lawrence Brown, to address the Committee.

The agent stated that he managed properties across the whole of the UK, and wished that every property under his management was as well managed as the applicant’s property. The scheme for the applicant’s site was in receipt of a loan from West Lindsey District Council. The speaker stated the site was fully occupied, and had strong demand for space. Regarding raised issues in the planning process, the agent stated that rats were never seen by anyone associated with the site, and stated that the West Lindsey District Council Environmental Health Officer had also found no evidence of rats.

In relation to noise issues, the speaker stated that the project was a continuous construction site, and it was inevitably going to create some noise and activities that further extended noise and dust. The speaker then moved to applicant’s desires of reducing the visual ugliness of the site, and had made it more difficult to let the premises due to the storage of waste, particularly for potential vehicle repair workshops or tyre exhaust operators.

Regarding the cardboard, this had been collected and was gone. The speaker emphasised the construction that had taken place with the new storage container and on the fencing. The speaker then mentioned that the storage container mentioned in the report had been moved upon the request of West Lindsey District Council.

The speaker referenced conversations with the case officer, where there was apparent agreement that recycling was to be kept in a corner of the yard, once fence construction was completed. This was apparently not visible from the road, and was about 200 feet from the nearest dwelling, with claimed added protection of trees, shrubbery and the boundary wall. The speaker concluded his remarks by requesting a site visit to view the property, and that the site improves the area surrounding it.

The Chairman thanked the speaker for his statement, and invited a supporter of the application, Jon Wright, to address the Committee.

The speaker stated that he was Chairman of Caistor, and a Councillor on the Town Council. He stated that he lived nearby and passed the site regularly. The site was previously dilapidated, and he considered the site to be very positive for the usage in Caistor, with it being only one of four sites allocated for regeneration by Caistor Town Council that had works completed on it.

The speaker then progressed to talk about the provision of local jobs on the site, and that many of the workers and users lived locally, with any change to the site difficult to locate. The speaker moved on to talk about the site, and referenced the left-out cardboard, and stated that it was getting ready for collection. It was emphasised that this was important for businesses to support recycling.

The speaker concluded that the site had been an industrial zone since 1985, with the diverse-ability and jobs playing a key role in the site’s success. Caistor Town Council raised no objections to the application, and it was viewed favourably by the Council.

The Chairman thanked the speaker for his statement. At this point, the Development Management Team Leader stated that there was an update to the application, with an objector who raised concerns about the lack of enforcement against the breach of conditions. Regarding the regeneration activity comment, West Lindsey District Council supported this by granting approval for the application, with a prohibition on outside storage.

The Chairman then invited comments from Members of the Committee. Debate ensued, and Members drew attention to different reported standards, and the site’s location within the Lincolnshire Wold AONB. Members also used experience of the bailing of waste materials, and the potential risks surrounding the leaving of waste out in the open to supplement their remarks.

Members also discussed past usage of the site, including a hairdresser, and whether removing the current condition would allow unrestricted storage, with the Council unable to enforce that issue. A Member suggested that extra fence panels would alleviate the view.

Note:              Councillor J. Summers declared that he knew the applicant, and had previously visited the site when it was a proposed application.

In response to a query about the Health and Safety Executive’s comments to the application, the Officer explained that with new developments, their remit was looking at potential impacts on existing underground apparatus or pipelines. In answering a query about containers in the yard, the Officer highlighted West Lindsey had granted permission for an enclosed storage area on the site.

Having been moved and seconded, the Chairman took the vote and, it was agreed that planning permission, as detailed in the Officer’s recommendation, be REFUSED.