MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 14th MARCH 2018 AFTER THE COUNCIL MEETING IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, TOWN HALL, ABERGAVENNY.
Present: Cllr D Simcock (Mayor)
Cllr T Konieczny
Cllr N Tatam
Cllr G Jones
Cllr R Harris
Cllr M Hickman
Cllr F Morgan
Cllr S Dodd
Cllr T Davies
Cllr T Thomas
In attendance: J Lee (Town Clerk)
1. Apologies for absence
Received from Cllrs S Head, M Harris, M Groucutt, L Van De Vyver, P Simcock
2. Declarations of Interest were received from Cllr R Harris.
Cllr R Harris is a member of MCC Planning Committee. He took no part in the decision making and voting on these items and acted, where required, in a factual advisory capacity.
3. The following application was recommended for refusal:
DC/2018/00156/158 – 17-25 BRECON ROAD, ABERGAVENNY
Scale of Development
Considered to be significant over development of the site to accommodate 24 units. The floor space afforded by the individual units is very small. Noted that the development is 100% affordable housing and would question whether it is acceptable for affordable housing to be substandard with regards to space.
LDP Policy H9 – Flat conversions, explicity states that:
Proposals for the conversion of properties into flats within town and village development boundaries will be permitted provided that the development:
a) will not adversely affect the particular qualities of the street or area where the proposed conversion is located;
b) will not adversely affect the particular qualities of the buildings, particularly where they make a positive contribution to the character of Conservation Areas;
c) provides reasonable levels of amenity and privacy of adjacent properties through careful consideration of the positioning of entrances and fire escapes, and noise transmission issues; and
d) ensures that car parking and service requirements are met in a manner which preserves the character and appearance of the area and do not have an adverse impact on highway safety or cause traffic congestion.
The height of the part of the development at 2.5 storeys is out of character with the area contrary to H9 a) and the parking as commented on below is contrary to H9 d).
Car Parking Provision
There is an inadequate number of car parking spaces to be provided. The Transport Statement justifies a lower level of parking provision on the grounds of sustainable location, predicted level of car ownership and on-street parking capacity. The Transport Statement refers to an on-street parking survey, this was carried out on only one night. This is not considered to be a robust sample on which to base the claims that there is on street parking capacity. The local view is that on-street parking capacity in this area is already at full capacity and cannot accommodate additional vehicles and as such is contrary to the LDP policy MV1 which states:
“Where appropriate, development proposals will be expected to satisfy: a) the adopted highway design guide; and b) the adopted parking guidelines.
In town centres, if the parking provision cannot reasonably be achieved on-site, then suitable alternative provision should be made.”
The impact of this development would be to increase the demand on on-street parking in the surrounding congested narrow streets, this is unacceptable. This is not suitable alternative provision.
