Agenda and draft 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

The Declaration of Interest Sheet set out below confirms those Members who had made a declaration of their personal interest as a Member of a Town or Parish Councillor or a West Sussex County Councillor, as confirmed in their Register of Interest as these declarations could apply to any of the issues to be discussed at the meeting:

Councillor Warr declared a Personal Interest as a member of Bognor Regis and Bersted Parish Councils.

The Chair then called a short adjournment so that officers could deal with a technical issue.

The meeting was adjourned from 14:07pm and restarted at 14:12pm.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Special Planning Committee meeting held on 29 January 2025. These will be uploaded as a supplement to the agenda pack.

The Minutes of the previous Special meeting held on 29 January 2025 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items for the meeting.

Change of use to F1 and F2 community centre and place of worship. This application is in CIL Zone 4 (zero rated) as other development.

The Team Leader (Development Management) presented the update report to members. Where he explained that the application had been deferred at the Planning Committee held on 15 January 2025 to give time to WSCC Highways and Environmental Health (EH) to review further information submitted by the applicant to overcome their objections. WSCC Highways reviewed the Travel Plan and raise no objection to securing a condition requiring Travel Information Packs be provided to all users of the site and encouragement of using public transport. On this basis the reasons for refusal on the grounds of impact to highway amenity and parking provision was withdrawn.

An acoustic report and other supplementary information was also provided by the applicant to overcome the EH objection, however EH maintain their objection following review of the additional information. They cannot support the hours of use being 04:30am to 10:30pm due to the negative impact this would have on neighbouring amenities in the early hours of the morning. Members were also informed that there was an EH Officer virtually in attendance at the meeting in order to answer any additional questions they had. Finally, he confirmed that the council had been in contact with the applicant to discuss their current use of the United Reform Church, specifically in relation to early morning prayers. The applicant confirmed that the church had not been used for early morning prayers, nor was it used for all five daily prayers. But it was used for Friday prayers, Eid prayers and late evening prayers during Ramadan.

In summing up the Team Leader (Development Management), advised that in light of the updated comments received from WSCC Highways and EH, the recommendation before members was still to refuse the application, however there was now only one reason for refusal regarding noise pollution and its impact on neighbouring amenity. 

The Chair then invited members to debate and or ask any questions they had, where the reasoning for EH maintaining their objection was thoroughly questioned, it was confirmed by the EH Officer that the 04:30am start time was the significant concern given the very close proximity of the residential houses. Members where of the opinion that other surrounding factors such as the Pub, the Bakery and local supermarket who all impact the noise levels during late or early hours from the pub’s late night operating hours to early morning deliveries to the Bakery and Supermarket. Member’s highlighted that the number of people who would be attending early morning prayers would be between 2 and 8 people of which they felt would not cause significant noise. The also asked how many letters of objection had been received specifically from the neighbours located opposite the site where it was confirmed that due to the reporting of objections this information could not be provided, however 1 letter of support had been received from a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 544.

1 Public Speaker

Nigel Jarvis, Agent

Outline planning will all matters reserved (except access) for the demolition of existing redundant nursery buildings and other structures and erection of a residential development of with up to 130 No. dwellings, informal, and formal public open space, landscaping, drainage and other associated works. This application may be a Departure from the Development Plan.

The Planning Officer presented the report to members with updates.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Partridge and seconded by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper.

          The Chair then invited member debate where it was stated that it was pleasing to see that Southern Water were going to complete the reinforcement works. A question was raised regarding the square meter footage of the play area was raised where it was confirmed that this was conditioned within the application and the detail could be seen at condition 8. As there were no other comments, the Chair went to the vote.

          The Committee

                    RESOLVED

DELEGATED to the Group Head of Planning in consultation with the Chair or Vice-Chair authority to grant outline planning permissions subject to conditions and subject to a Section 106 Agreement, the terms of which are substantially in accordance with those set out in the report with any minor amendments authorised by the Group Head of Planning. Should the Section 106 not be completed, then the application shall be refused, for the following reasons the absence of affordable housing provision, lack of travel plan and highway improvements necessary to make the development acceptable.

1 No dwelling. This application is in CIL Zone 4 and is CIL Liable as a new dwelling.

          The Team Leader (Development Management) presented the report update to members which had been brought to Committee to correct in accuracies in the previously presented presentation. The officer confirmed that the update report made no change to the original recommendation of approval, members were being asked to reconsider the application with the correct measurements.

          The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Patel and seconded by Councillor Gunner.

          As there was no member debate, the Chair put the recommendation to the vote.

          The Committee

                    RESOLVED

                    That the application be APPROVED CONDITIONALLY.

4 Public speakers

Andrew Vawer, Walberton Parish Council

Martin Downs, Objector – Not present

Peter Cleveland, Agent

Councillor Mel Penycate, Ward Member

Approval of reserved matters relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the erection of 48 dwellings, dental surgery (use class E(e)), substation, foul-pump station, public open space and associated works pursuant to outline application WA/2/22/OUT. This application may affect the setting of listed buildings and may affect the character and appearance of the Walberton Village conservation area. This application is in CIL zone 3 and is CIL liable for new dwellings.

The Planning Officer presented the report to members with updates.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Partridge and seconded by Councillor Woodman.

          Upon the Chair opening debated there were comments from members relating to the affordable housing mix figure and the suggestion of Grampian conditions being considered in relation to sewage and flooding experienced in the area. The Chair invited the Group Head of Planning to address the committee where he reminded members that the report before them was a reserved matters application and confirmed that the only matters for determination were those on layout, appearance and scale.

          There was clarification sought regarding how many of the properties would be wheelchair complaint, the officer confirmed it was 2 properties which was in line with policy as well as 48% of the properties built to be wheelchair accessible with the ability to then be fully converted when purchased.  One member raised that they felt the design of the properties were out of keeping with the surrounding area, no other comments where then made, so the Chair put the recommendations to the vote.

The Committee

                    RESOLVED

                    That the application be APPROVED CONDITIONALLY.

1 Public Speakers

John Hall, Agent

Addition of 3 No. 5ha glasshouses, ancillary structures and reservoir to existing permission for 1 x 5ha glasshouse and reservoir. This application is in CIL Zone 3 (Zero Rated) as other development.

The Planning Officer presented the report to members with updates.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Wallsgrove and seconded by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper.

          In opening debate on the application, the Chair invited the Vice-Chair to address the committee where she stated that she was pleased to hear that the runoff surface water would be filtered before it entered the rife, along with the blackout screens to minimise light pollution impact. A concern was raised regarding the height of the glasshouses and were they sloped or a different height near the other buildings and there was surprise that there had been no objections received from the buildings nearby. The officer confirmed that the glasshouses were not different heights, 2 comments had been received but neither of these where from the nearby building occupiers.

          As there were no other comments or questions to be asked the Chair put the recommendation to the vote.

The Committee

                    RESOLVED

That delegation be given to the Group Head of Planning in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair with authority to APPROVE CONDITIONALLY SUBJECT TO A S106 AGREEMENT.

Members noted the appeals report.

The Group Head of Planning presented the report to members explaining that provided the committee with and update on the quarter 3 performance outturn for its key performance indicators. He stated that he was pleased to report that as set out in the report for indicators CP26, 27 and 28 the team had achieved a green status all of those indicators and more recently the data showed the team to be excelling in these areas. He confirmed that 157 applications had been determined within the timeframe and the only applications that had not been achieved within timeframe were those which had a s106 required or that had needed to come to committee for determination. In summing up he confirmed that the rolling 12-month data showed very good performance overall and stated that over the last 4/5 years performance had improved significantly and continued to do so.

In opening debate, congratulations and thanks to the planning team was expressed. A query was raised as to why the committee was receiving KPI’s for all committees and not just its own relevant indicators where the Group Head of Planning provided and explanation for the change in reporting.  With no other comments wanting to be made, members noted the report.

The Group Head of Planning presented the report to members where he explained that the report outlined how the Council had performed in the calendar year of 2024 in respect of appeals. He also advised that item 14 presented in the agenda was the appendix to this report and not a sperate agenda item to be discussed.  He confirmed that significant improvement had been made over the last 6/7 years in this area and that this was first year the team had achieved a 75% dismissal rate, which demonstrated an improvement in the quality of decision making.

The Chair stated that he was pleased with the good all-round performance from the team. As there were no other comments or questions, members noted the report.

The Group Head of Planning confirmed that this agenda item was the Appendix to Agenda Item 13.