Agenda and minutes

Councillor:       G. Dowling (Chairman)

Councillors:     Ashcroft                                   Nixon

                        Mrs. Baybutt                            O’Toole

                        Cooper                                    Pendleton

                        Devine                                     Pope

                        D. Evans                                 Pritchard

                        McKay                                     Westley

                        Mee                                         Yates

In Attendance: Councillor J. Hodson (Portfolio Holder for Planning)

                        Councillor Cotterill  (Bickerstaffe Ward)

Officers:           Director of Development and Regeneration (Mr. J.Harrison)

                        Head of Development Management (Mrs. C. Thomas)

                        Principal Planning Officer (Ms. A. Veevers)

                        Legal and Member Services Manager (Mr. M. Jones)

                        Legal Services/Civic Support Officer (Mrs. J.A. Ryan)

There were no apologies for absence received.

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 4, the Committee noted the termination of Councillors C. Marshall and Mrs. M. Westley and the appointments of Councillors D. Westley and Mee for this meeting only, thereby giving effect to the wishes of the Political Groups.

Note: No other business is permitted unless, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items of business.

If a member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Borough Solicitor in advance of the meeting. (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet.)

1.               In line with Section 17.1 of the Constitution, the Officer’s Code of Conduct, the Head of Development Management, Mrs. C. Thomas declared an interest in respect of planning application 0878/FUL relating to the Store and Premises, 30A Scarth Hill Lane, Aughton as the agent is known to her personally and stated that she would leave the Chamber during consideration of this item.

Party Whips are not to be used by this Committee in respect of its functions concerning the determination of applications, approval of consents, the taking of enforcement action and the exercise of powers and duties with regard to highways, hedgerows, the preservation of trees and high hedge complaints. When considering any other matter which relates to a decision of the Cabinet or the performance of any member of the Cabinet, in accordance with Regulatory Committee Procedure 9, Members must declare the existence of any party whip, and the nature of it.

There were no declarations of Party Whip.

RESOLVED:          To receive as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the                                              .

RESOLVED:         That the minutes of the meeting held on the 6 October 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Director of Development and Regeneration submitted a report on planning applications (all prefixed 2016 unless otherwise stated) as contained on pages 660 to 843 and on pages 853 to 856 detailing late information and additional late information on pages 861 to 862.

RESOLVED  A:          That the under-mentioned planning applications be approved subject to the conditions in the report:

                                   0668/FUL;              0941/WL3;         

B.           That planning application 2015/1055/FUL relating to Land to the West, Cabin Lane, Great Altcar be refused for the following reasons:-

1.         The proposed development constitutes inappropriate development within the Green Belt which would be harmful to the Green Belt by definition, contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework and Policy GN1 in the West Lancashire Local Plan Development Plan Document 2012-2027. In addition the proposed development would have a significant adverse impact upon the openness of the Green Belt and conflict with one of the purposes of including land in the Green Belt, aimed at safeguarding the countryside from encroachment. The very special circumstances advanced in favour of the proposed development, namely the provision of renewable energy, are considered insufficient to outweigh this harm.

 2.        By virtue of its siting, height and scale the proposed development would be harmful to the visual amenity and landscape character of this part of the Green Belt contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework, Policies GN3 and EN2 of the West Lancashire Local Plan Development Plan Document 2012-2027 and the Council's Supplementary Planning Guidance "Natural Areas and Areas of Landscape History Importance".

3.      The development of the proposed 12 turbines would due to their height, scale, proximity and extent cause harm to the significance, to the historic setting, of a number of designated heritage assets (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas).  The proposal in this respect fails to meet the statutory duty as required by Section 66(1) and Section 72 (1) of the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The Council does not consider the stated public benefits, including the provision of renewable energy, outweigh the harm identified (less than substantial) to the designated heritage assets affected.  The proposal is therefore contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework and Policy EN4 of the adopted West Lancashire Local Plan Development Plan Document 2012-2027.

 4.     The proposed development conflicts with paragraph 118 of the National Planning Policy Framework and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (as amended) and Policy EN2 of the West Lancashire Local Plan Development Plan Document 2012-2027 in that insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposed development would not adversely affect internationally designated sites, their qualifying features and supporting habitat.

 5.     The proposed development fails to comply with the National Planning Practice Guidance in that the site is not allocated as suitable for wind energy development in the West Lancashire Local Plan Development Plan Document 2012-2027 and the planning impacts identified by local communities in relation to the green belt, landscape character, heritage assets and ecology have not been fully addressed and therefore  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.