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Agenda item

20/00950/FUL - Yew Tree Farm, Little Shurdington

PROPOSAL: Demolition of existing building and erection of a single dwelling.

 

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION: Permit.

Minutes:

64.51         This was an application for the demolition of an existing building and erection of a single dwelling.

64.52         The Planning Officer advised that the application site was located at Yew Tree Farm within the settlement of Little Shurdington also situated within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Green Belt. Yew Tree Farm was a complex which comprised a mix of equestrian, storage and residential uses set around a concrete apron. The application site itself comprised of a building in the south west of the concrete apron and a yard to the south which was enclosed by a fence. The application was submitted in full and proposed to demolish the existing building and erect a two storey four bedroom dwelling with a curved roof.  The dwelling would be served by a garden to the south in the location of the existing yard as well as an external amenity area to the west.  Vehicular access and egress to the dwelling would be via the existing access off Whitelands Lane. The Planning Officer asked Members to note the information on the late representation sheet in relation to the applicant’s agreement to use Cotswold stone in place of the originally proposed painted block work on the ground floor elevations. The application site was located within the settlement of Little Shurdington which was a small rural settlement with no service infrastructure and was not defined in the settlement hierarchy in the Joint Core Strategy. The application site was not allocated and did not meet any of the policy exceptions for the distribution for residential development afforded by policy SD10 of the Joint Core Strategy. The application was therefore contrary to policies SP2 and SD10 of the Joint Core Strategy. However, the application site was located approximately 750 metres to the south of the defined Residential Development Boundary of Shurdington which was defined as a Service Village in the Joint Core Strategy.  In addition, policy RES4 of the Emerging Local Plan stated that very small scale residential development within, and adjacent to, the built up area of other rural settlements would be acceptable in principle providing the proposal met a number of exceptions.  As set out in the Committee report, it was considered that the application accorded with emerging policy RES4 insofar as the application was for one dwelling within the built up area of Little Shurdington which replaced an existing building on previously developed land. Therefore, whilst the application was contrary to adopted policies SP2 and SD10 of the Joint Core Strategy, it was in accordance with emerging policy RES4 of the Emerging Local Plan. Officers also considered that the application site was not in an isolated location in the countryside, that the proposal was appropriate development in the Green Belt and that it accorded with Green Belt policy in the National Planning Policy Framework and the Joint Core Strategy. Subject to the imposition of conditions it was also considered the application accorded with landscape and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty policies in the National Planning Policy Framework and the Joint Core Strategy. In light of the above, and having regard to the fact that the Council could not currently demonstrate a five year housing supply, Officers had concluded that there would be no adverse impacts of approving the development proposal which would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits and therefore it was recommended that permission be granted subject to conditions.

64.53         The Chair invited the applicant’s agent to address the Committee. He advised that he did not intend to take up much of the Committee’s time on the application given that there were no Parish or third party objections to the scheme. Although concerns were originally raised by the Local Highways Authority, it was recognised that there were overriding material planning reasons why the application should be permitted, and no objection was raised on highway safety grounds. Despite the site’s location within the Green Belt and Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the proposal before the Committee presented a unique opportunity to support a development that would provide betterment to the local environment both in landscape/visual terms, and use through the removal of an unrestricted commercial use. Indeed, in size and scale terms, the proposed dwelling would be 52% smaller than the building that currently existed. The design and layout reflected the character, scale, density and layout of surrounding development in the area and fully met the design expectations of the Joint Core Strategy. It was proposed to use natural Cotswold stone, not painted blockwork as suggested in the Committee report. The development would not constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt, nor would it result in any harm to the landscape beauty of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Officer’s report also acknowledged that the development would be in accordance with emerging Borough policy RES4, and the site was not isolated. He suggested that this was an unobtrusive and well-designed home that should be encouraged as it was in accordance with the Council’s adopted policies. This home would be occupied by his client who worked in the equestrian industry which linked directly to established uses on site and he asked that permission be granted in accordance with the recommendation in the Committee report.

64.54         In seconding a proposal to permit the application, the Member commented that in his view this was a very appropriately designed building that fitted in well with the rural landscape. Another Member indicated that he was struggling with this application and referred to the Officer’s report which advised that the site was in an unsuitable location, the occupiers would be relying on private cars, the site was in the Green Belt and Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to name just a few of the issues associated with this development yet he could see no exceptional circumstances as to why it should be permitted and sought an explanation from Officers. The Development Manager indicated that, in this case, in terms of the Green Belt the assessment was that it was actually appropriate development in the Green Belt and therefore though it was actually very special circumstances in development management terms rather than exceptional circumstances these were not required when looking at appropriate development and Officers had concluded in the report that this was the case in this instance. In terms of the locational aspects and the comments of the County Council, these had been taken into account however the view had been taken that, because the application proposal accorded with other policies when the plan was looked at as a whole, Officers felt able to support the application despite its locational disadvantage.  Upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED          That the application be PERMITTED in accordance with the Officer recommendation.

Supporting documents: