Agenda item

A report to provide the Economy Committee with an update of the ongoing project to deliver a four bedroom dwelling for use as a holiday let at the River Road Garage Site in Arundel.

          The Property, Estates and Facilities Manager explained that the report before members was to provide an update on the River Road garage site project in Arundel. It advised that since March 2022 a consultant had been engaged and had prepared an architectural design for the scheme which had been submitted for pre-application planning advice in March 2023. In September 2023 a response to the pre-application was received which set out that the development was permissible in principle, but that the form of the design was not in keeping with the character of the area and would likely be refused if not amended. It also detailed the review completed on the cost and income analysis for the project, this had been necessary as construction, labour and material prices had seen considerable increase since March 2022 when members last considered the project.

          The Chair stated he was pleased to see the report before the committee given the feeling from residents since the original decision was made. He then invited comments from members where concern regarding the future of the site was raised, in particular the comments made regarding potential consideration of the disposal of the site, given the councils need to generate income. There was a clear request from members that they wanted to understand what future uses for the site were to be considered. It was confirmed that officers would relook at housing viability options, lease parking options and permit parking was also under consideration. It was stated that if the council were to address the views of the residents of Arundel, then the options considering Parking would be most favourable due to the lack of parking in the area and when considering these options electrical charging points should also be considered. 

          The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Nash and were seconded by Councillor Walsh. At this point Councillor Penycate then proposed an amendment to recommendation 2.2, which was seconded by Councillor Lawrence.

2.2 A further report be put before members reconsidering financially and environmentally sustainable the options for the future of the River Road Garages site in Arundel that excludes the option for short-stay holiday accommodation, Corporate Work Programme will be updated to show its expected presentation date in 2024

          Members then took part in a debate on the amendment where it was raised that members had been overwhelmed by contact received from residents of Arundel since the original decision had been made for the site. The review of the project was welcomed and the research that had been undertaken was impressive. It was now clear that the finances for the project as originally agreed were not a viable option and the amendment proposed was broadly supported. Additionally, it was requested that consideration of a scheme involving 4 small retirement apartments, garages and permit parking be included in the options for the next part of the review as this could provide the council with an income for 52 weeks of the year via rents on the apartments and parking revenue on top. Some members of the opposition highlighted that they were not supportive of the amendment for the for the following reasons, it was felt that the car parking options were not environmentally sustainable, there would be significant cost to include electrical charging points. It was stated that whilst there was understanding regarding the comments received from residents, it was important to balance this against the needs of the council. It was also commented that given the feedback received on the initial decision, was that residents were worried an air B&B could become a ‘party house’ could consideration be given to 4 small holiday lets. Final comments heard were that members should be careful not to limit options to be considered and reviewed moving forward, “all options should be considered without limit”.

          As all members of the committee had spoken, the Chair invited Councillor McAuliffe to address the committee before turning to the vote on the proposed amendment which was CARRIED.

          The Committee

                     RESOLVED

                     2.1 that the project should not proceed in its current form; and

2.2 A further report be put before members reconsidering financially and environmentally sustainable options for the future of the River Road Garages site in Arundel that excludes the option for short-stay holiday accommodation, Corporate Work Programme will be updated to show its expected presentation date in 2024.

          After advice was received from the Monitoring Officer the Chair then undertook a vote to extend the meeting by an additional 30 minutes in line with Part 5, Rules of Procedure (Meetings), Section 2, Committee Procedure Rule 8.1. This was then declared CARRIED.