Residential development to include 5 affordable dwellings to meet a local need together with associated accesses and parking
LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Elwyn Jones
Minutes:
Residential
development to include five affordable homes for local need along with
associated accesses and parking.
(a) The
Senior Development Control Officer elaborated on the background of the
application, noting that the development was for local need, parking spaces on
the site which were on the northern outskirts of the village of Rhiwlas. The
site was located outside the development boundary as contained in the Local
Development Plan, but it directly abutted the boundary and could therefore be
considered an exemption site.
Reference was made to relevant policies and the responses to
the statutory consultation process noted in the report. Objections had been
received based on the fact that the site was outside the development boundary;
set a precedent; loss of green space; disturbance during hours of work on the
site; lack of valid evidence of local need; impact on the Welsh language;
weakness of any conditions relating to affordable homes; detrimental impact on
the village infrastructure.
It was noted that the principle of constructing affordable
housing on this particular site had been based in Policy TAI16 of the Local
Development Plan which noted that a development immediately adjacent to
development boundaries must be for 100% affordable housing if it can be shown
that a local need had been proven for affordable housing that could not be
addressed within a reasonable time-scale on a market site within the
development boundary. Given the assessment and, subject to the proposal
complying with the other policies referred to in the report, along with taking
into consideration the observations of the Council's Housing Strategic Unit, it
was considered that the application was acceptable in principle. It was noted
that the plan of the proposed development intentionally followed the ribbon
pattern of this part of the village and although the houses would appear
contemporary, the external materials reflected the external materials of
similar houses nearby. In terms of general and residential amenities it was not
considered that any substantial over-looking would be created. Although it was
acknowledged that an element of disturbance would derive from the development
during the construction work, it must be considered that this would only be
temporary. In the context of transport and access matters, it was noted that
the proposed accesses and parking arrangement was acceptable by the
Transportation Unit subject to including relevant conditions.
The applicant would need to sign a legal agreement in order
to bind the five houses to affordable housing and he was currently in
discussions with a registered housing association to take ownership of the
houses in future.
Having considered all relevant matters, all of the
observations and objections received, it was recommended to approve the
application.
(b) The Local Member (not a member of this Planning Committee) noted:
·
the proposed development was located
outside the development boundary and an application from a developer and not an
individual searching for a house.
·
the Planning Committee was reminded of
the boundaries set in the Local Development Plan less than a year ago and that
they had been included in it for a reason, and it had been approved at an
enormous cost for the Council.
·
80% of houses in Rhiwlas had three
bedrooms and that there was no real need for more similar houses but instead
bungalows should be considered for the elderly living in three bedroom houses
and who were eager to downgrade to smaller houses.
·
there was no sense in approving
affordable housing developments if there was no real need for the houses.
·
three areas had already been earmarked
for construction in the Local Development Plan and the applicant of the
application in question owned one of these areas.
·
an appeal was made to the Planning
Committee to refuse the application.
(c) In response to the observations above, the Senior Planning
Service Manager noted that generally every development should be within the
development boundary, but there were exceptions; for example, agricultural
circumstances and more relevant, developments that adjoined the boundary
provided that it was an extension and that there was evidence of need. It was
noted that housing policy approved this type of development in accordance with
evidence of need.
(ch) A Member noted that he shared the concerns of the Local Member in
terms of the demographic nature of the village and it was apparent that there
was already an under-use of social housing in the village. The member was of
the opinion that evidence of need should be received and he suggested deferring
making a decision on the application in order to ask the developer to submit
evidence of need for this type of house, compared with one / two bedroom units.
Another Member noted that it would be useful to receive further information
from the registered housing association regarding the waiting list for social
housing in the area as well as confirmation that they would commit as landlords
to the proposed development.
(d) It was proposed and seconded to defer making a decision on the
application and to request robust evidence regarding the need for the proposed
houses.
(dd) During the ensuing discussion, it was asked whether it would be
possible for the Planning Department to submit figures of applications for
houses that had already been approved and how many remained in order to ensure
compliance with the designated allocation in the Local Development Plan.
In
response to the observation above, the Senior Planning Service Manager noted
that systems would be in place to track applications that were approved and
that they would then be in a position to report either to the Planning
Committee or in future training sessions.
Resolved: To defer
making a decision on the application and to ask the Senior Planning Service
Manager:
(i)
to ask
the developer for evidence of real need for three bedroom social housing in the
village of Rhiwlas;
(ii)
to
receive confirmation whether a registered housing association was interested in
the units or not as well as information about waiting lists for social housing
in the area.
Supporting documents: