Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Ms A Cranmer and Mr C Ditta.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 July 2018 to be confirmed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  The minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2018 were AGREED as an accurate record and were signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman declared an interest in the Denham Infant School application as he was the local member for the Denham area.

Ms A Herriman, Senior Planning Officer, gave a presentation on the application which sought approval for application number CC/0029/18 – Denham Infant School.

Ms Herriman stated that there had been a few updates from consultees, as a result of a consultation due to slight amendments to the drawings, which had been received following the publication of the Committee report.  They were as follows:

• South Bucks District Council (SBDC) still objected to the application as it conflicted with Green Belt policy and the school was a listed building.
• The Flood Management Team had no change to previous comments.
• Denham Parish Council had no objection subject to the resurfacing of the access road to the Way and Tillard Recreation ground on completion.  It was proposed that this was included within the Construction Traffic Management plan with photos to be taken of the access road before and after completion to show any changes in the condition. 
• Archaeology - no change to previous comments.
• Rights of Way - to ensure that any new trees planted on the northern boundary were tobe of the species that grew upwards rather than up and over crossing the footpath.

Ms Herriman provided further clarification on SBDC’s objections as follows:

• Even though the school site was in the Green Belt, it was in a built up area with houses to all sides.
• The District Council objected due to the impact of the development on the openness of the Green Belt. 
• As a result of the location of the school and the proposed development at the school and the fact it was in a built up area, it was believed that the benefits of the proposed development were greater than potential harm on the openness of the Green Belt.
• Listed building status - as already stated in the report in paragraph 8.26, reference was made to paragraph 196 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) where proposed development to listed buildings must bring more benefits than harm to the listed building.  This was the case in this instance as the proposed extensions would make better use of the school, enable pupils to pursue their primary education up to the age of 11 in one place and provide more junior school places.  It would also reduce traffic issues in the area and would provide provision for new housing in the area in the future.  Paragraph 94 of the NPPF stated that parents should have wider choice of schools.  The paragraph was quoted as below:

"It is important that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. Local planning authorities should take a proactive, positive and collaborative approach to meeting this requirement, and to development that will widen choice in education.  They should give great weight to the need to create, expand or alter schools through the preparation of plans and decisions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Ms O Stapleford, Planning Team Leader, stated that application number CC/0012/18 was a Variation of Condition 2 and 23 which had been granted in August 2017 at the Development Control Committee meeting in July 2017 for the A355 relief road in Beaconsfield.  The site location plan showed the approved scheme for the road.  The application came before the Committee because the arboricultural report did not line up with the environmental report; the arboricultural report suggested more trees needed to be removed. 

The Committee received a presentation which included photographs of the location and highlighted the following points:

• The location of the railway line and the road.
• The mature tree belt would be slightly affected by the changes. 
• Due to the removal of extra trees further mitigation had been provided for the ponds and drainage scheme.
• The plan showed proposed changes to the number of trees to be removed.

In terms of consultation Ms Stapleford stated the following:

• South Bucks District Council had not responded to the application but they had not raised objections in relation to the conditions 20, 21 and 22 which included these proposed changes. 
• The Environment Agency had responded with no comment. 
• The Sustainable Drainage Agency had initially objected due to their concerns regarding the infiltration rates derived from on-site investigations and the supporting calculations so further infiltration testing was undertaken and proved acceptable; the objection was then removed.
• Network rail had commented that the applicant would need to "re-score the Vehicle Incursion Risk".
• The Ecology Adviser had raised no objection.
• The Landscape Adviser did make a comment but had no objection.
• There was one representation made by a member of the public but it was felt that the objection related to the original application as it covered some concerns which were not in relation to application CC/0012/18.
• None of the proposed changes in the application actually impacted on the objection, however, the way the scheme of delegation was set meant that the application did need to come before the Development Control Committee for approval.

A Member of the Committee asked why the Committee should be reconsidering an application for which approval had already been permitted.  The Chairman agreed and said a recommendation for changes to the scheme of delegation would be presented at a future Committee meeting.

Mr Clare proposed approval of the application number CC/0012/18 for the proposed Section 73 Variation of Condition 2 (Approved Plans ) and 23 (Landscape Mitigation) attached to Consent CC/65/16 for a new relief road between the A355/Maxwell Road and Wilton Park on land to the east of Beaconsfield, subject to conditions as set out in Appendix A and the following vote was recorded:

RESOLVED:  The Committee unanimously AGREED to APPROVE application number CC/0012/18 subject to the conditions set out in Appendix A.

5 November 2018 at 10.00 am, Mezzanine 1 and 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

5 November 2018 at 10.00 am in Mezzanine room 1 and 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to an individual.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 23 July, to be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.