Agenda and draft minutes

There were none.

There were none.

Councillor Clark visited the tree.

Councillor Andrews visited 6a, 6b and was familiar with 6c.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 May will be approved at the next meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 May will be considered at the next meeting.

There were none.

There were none.

The tree officer introduced the report as published.

The matter then went to Member questions and the responses were as follows:

-       The estimate is that the tree is decades old, possibly 50 years.

-       The criteria for what is a tree of high value is one that makes a significant contribution and has a safe life expectancy of at least 10 years.

-       The tree sits within the red line of development and would be a private tree. If highways at GCC adopted that part of the pavement they would maintain the tree.

The matter then went to Member debate where the following points were raised:

-       It is a valuable tree and would support the TPO.

-       The developers only objection appeared to be that the tree has damaged the pavement, and this is true of many trees in Cheltenham.

The Head of Development, Management, Enforcement and Compliance clarified that there are exemptions to the TPO. For instance, if planning permission were granted where it requires a tree to be felled in order to facilitate the permission or proposed layout, the planning permission would overrule the TPO. Therefore, the protection of the TPO would be lost if planning permission were granted.

The matter then went to the vote on the officer recommendation to confirm the TPO:

For: Unanimous

Planning application documents

The planning officer introduced the report as published.

There were two public speakers on the item; the agent on behalf of the applicant and a Ward Member.

The agent on behalf of the applicant then addressed the committee and made the following points:

-       The ultimate purpose for the building is to provide space for the applicant’s mother to reside in her later years. This is not the case currently and the applicants wish to use the space as an Airbnb and short term let. There are currently several similar properties across the town being used as Airbnb’s.

-       It is confirmed in the report that the use of the garage for residential purposes does not cause amenity concerns and that the principle of a residential property on the site is acceptable.

-       The objection to the scheme is a subjective view that the layout does not conform to the character of the area. However, when considering a new application for a dwelling 30 metres from this site, officers found there to be no prevailing local character. The plot with the converted garage is equivalent to neighbouring plots.

-       This application seeks to retain the existing boundary fence on Evesham Road, which is only 30cm higher than the existing permission for 1.5m. This section of Evesham Road has a varied street scene which includes some boundary walls of up to 2m. The 1.8m fence has benefits of preventing trespassing and littering in the applicants property. The timber fence is softened by mature trees behind it and is appropriate with the street scene. There will be no visual benefit to the street scene by reducing the height of the fence.

-       It is acknowledged that when the garage was built parts of it did not align with the original permission. The applicant has fully engaged with the council’s planning enforcement team and this application is sought to rectify the areas of misalignment.

-       It is important to note that planning officers did not find that the building breached policies in terms of the dimensions or its relationship with neighbouring properties and considered their amenity protected.

Councillor Tooke as Ward Member was then asked to address the committee and made the following points:

-       When a version of this building which bears limited relationship to what was built was granted planning permission, the conditions of the planning permission were explicit including condition 8 which stated the outbuilding hereby permitted shall not be occupied other than for purposes ancillary to the residential dwelling, Little Duncroft. The reason for this was that use of the outbuilding as independent residential accommodation and resultant subdivision of the plot are inappropriate due to size and configuration of the site and the potential harmful impact on neighbouring amenity, having regard to the provisions of the  Cheltenham Plan 2020 and the Joint Core Strategy 2017.

-       The scale and position of the building had been negotiated with the applicant prior to application to ensure that was used as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6b

Planning application documents

The planning officer introduced the report as published.

There were three public speakers on this item; the agent on behalf of the applicant, Parish Councillor and Ward Member.

The agent on behalf of the applicant then addressed the committee and made the following points:

-       The proposed development has had two years positive engagement with both planning officers and GCC as the highways authority. Feedback from this engagement has resulted in the number of dwellings being reduced and the removal of any above ground structures.

-       The proposed development will involve the removal of the existing lid of the tank and the erection of the dwelling within the existing concrete structure. The dwelling will not be above the height of the reservoir lid and the existing concrete base will be used for the foundations which will alleviate any need for excavation. Due to the nature of the underground structure there will be openings needed to allow for natural light and air circulation. However, these will be limited primarily to the east and west elevations and use internal courtyards to assist with this.

-       The redevelopment of previously developed land does not have an impact on the openness of the green belt land and is a form of development that is supported in both national and local planning policy.

-       The underground nature of the scheme ensures that the landscape and scenic beauty of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is unaffected.

-       Despite no requirement for biodiversity net gain at the time of submission of the application, the applicants have sought to do this through native hedgerow planting, wild flower green roof, tree planting and a pond.

-       The scheme has sought to its environmental impact through the use of both heat pumps and solar panels. The majority of the development will be constructed from sustainable timber such as the framework, partitions and roof structures.

-       The highways authority have raised no objection to the application. Official accident data through the Crashmap website identified that there had been only four minor accidents within the vicinity of the junction of Leckhampton Hill and Old Bath Road this with none recorded in the las 8 years. The site access points achieves the required visibility distances and that the additional car journeys from change of use from storage to residential use would not be severe.

-       This is a high quality scheme which incorporates renewable technology that makes good use of a brownfield site within a sustainable location and has been designed to minimise any potential impact on the greenbelt and AONB.

The Parish Councillor was then asked to address the committee and made the following points:

-       Leckhampton and Warden Hill parish council planning committee discussed this application in April and unanimously rejected it. Submitted an agreed response that the parish council objected to the application and requested that it be called in to committee.

-       The proposed development is on greenbelt AONB and is outside the principle urban area.

-  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6c

Appeal details were noted for information.

There were none.