Agenda and minutes

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and officer should make their declaration by stating :

a) the application they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

d) if it is a prejudicial or pecuniary interest, whether they will be exercising their right to speak to the application

Councillor Long declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 8 [LU/299/22/PL - Land North of Littlehampton Academy, Littlehampton] as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council and its Planning and Transportation Committee which considered this application. She stated for the record that she came to the meeting with an open mind and would make an objective decision after listening to the debate and the Officers’ report and advice.

Councillor Blanchard-Cooper declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 8 [LU/299/22/PL - Land North of Littlehampton Academy, Littlehampton] as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council and a Substitute Member of its Planning and Transportation Committee which considered this application. He stated for the record that he came to the meeting with an open mind and would make an objective decision after listening to the debate and the Officers’ report and advice.

Councillor Tandy declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 8 [LU/299/22/PL - Land North of Littlehampton Academy, Littlehampton] as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council and Chair of its Planning and Transportation Committee which considered this application. He stated for the record that he came to the meeting with an open mind and would make an objective decision after listening to the debate and the Officers’ report and advice.

Councillor Wallsgrove declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 7 [BN/147/22/RES - Land South of Barnham Station, Barnham] as a Member of Barnham and Eastergate Parish Council and Chair of its Planning and Environment Committee.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2023.

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 June 2023 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair.

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items to consider at this meeting.

[At the start of this item, Councillors Long, Blanchard-Cooper and Tandy redeclared their Personal Interests made at the beginning of the meeting. Councillor Woodman declared a Personal Interest as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council and its Planning and Transportation Committee which considered this application.]

Outline planning application with all matters reserved except access for the demolition of existing derelict building and erection of up to 18,580sqm of new industrial/warehouse (Use Class B2/B8) and ancillary offices (Use Class E (g)) floorspace.

The Strategic Development Team Leader presented the report with updates. Members raised points around the extent of the boundary and the ownership of the road shown in diagrams within the boundary, traffic at the Saltbox roundabout and what improvements the financial contribution from the Section 106 agreement would provide, and the possibility of customer-facing activity onsite and an increase in footfall to the site. The recommendation was then proposed by Councillor Bicknell and seconded by Councillor Bower.

The Committee

          RESOLVED

That the application be APPROVED CONDITIONALLY as detailed in the report and report update subject to the conditions as detailed.

1 Public Speaker

James Cross - Applicant

Approval of reserved matters following BN/149/22/PL for 200 dwellings respect of appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. This application may affect the setting of listed buildings, may affect the Church Lane, Barnham Conservation Area & affects a Public Right of Way.

The Strategic Development Team Leader explained that the applicant had submitted on 27 June 2023, the day before the meeting, amended plans to address the affordable housing concerns raised within the report and that these amendments resulted in a large number of plans being submitted. He clarified that Officers did not seek these amendments because the issue of affordable housing and its location was not an issue for the reserved matters submission and would have been agreed through the discharge of the planning obligation. Given the lateness of their submission, Officers had not yet been able to undertake a detailed review of these amendments or undertake any necessary consultation. Because of this situation, the Officer report update proposed an amended recommendation to defer to allow for these plans to be appropriately assessed and any consultation carried out. It was confirmed that further plans had been received on the day of the Committee. A detailed update report would be prepared for the next available Planning Committee. The recommendation to defer was then proposed by Councillor Bower and seconded by Councillor Patel.

The Committee

RESOLVED

That the application be DEFERRED to defer to allow for the amended plans to be appropriately assessed and any consultation carried out.

[During the discussion on the application, Councillor Tandy declared a Personal Interest as an employee of Woodard Academies Trust which ran the Littlehampton Academy.]

3 Public Speakers

Leanne Smith – Supporter, representing the applicant

Stephan Mountain – Objector

John Raymond – Objector

Development of the site to provide 101 dwellings and associated car parking, cycle parking and landscaping. This application is in CIL Zone 4 and is zero rated.

The Principal Planning Officer presented the report with updates. A verbal update was given. Officers had identified that the drawing revision numbers on the landscaping plans and play area plan specified within condition 2 referred to an earlier revision would therefore need to be updated to accurately reflect the plans which were being considered. Officers had also identified that a standard foul water condition and a landscaping plan had been omitted from the report. If the application was approved, the two following conditions would need to be imposed in order to comply with Local Plan policies and in the interests of amenity and the environment.

The foul water condition would read: ‘Prior to the commencement of construction works details of a proposed foul drainage system shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority (including details of its siting, design and subsequent management/maintenance) and no dwelling shall be occupied until works for the disposal of sewage have been fully implemented in accordance with the approved details.’

The landscaping condition would read: ‘The approved details of the landscaping shall be carried out in the first planting and seeding season, following the occupation of the buildings or the completion of the development, whichever is the sooner. Any trees or plants which, within a period of five years from the completion of development, die, are removed or become seriously damaged or diseased, shall be replaced in the next planting season with others of similar size and species, unless the Local Planning Authority gives written consent to any variation.’

This was followed by 3 Public Speakers. Members were then invited to discuss the application.

The need for more family homes in the area was raised but the lack of infrastructure delivery to accompany development or that infrastructure works funded via development in one part of the District were constructed elsewhere in the District were also noted. Several sections of the Heads of Terms (primary education, secondary education, sixth form education, sports facilities, healthcare) were highlighted as examples where the residents of this development or those in surrounding streets would not directly benefit as contributions sought would be channelled to identified projects in other areas. The environmental credentials of the homes being built were also challenged. The need for houses to be fitted with solar panels and water butts to respond to issues with rainwater runoff were two examples given where Officers and developers needed to be more imaginative with design and better with enforcement. Another Member noted that the lack of infrastructure to support development, whether developments in Section 106 agreements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.