Residential development of 9 affordable houses.
LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Sian Wyn Hughes
Minutes:
Residential development of nine affordable
dwellings.
(a) The
Planning Manager elaborated on the background of the application, and noted
that this was an outline application to consider the principle of developing
the site together with an access.
However, the indicative plan of the proposed setting of the site had
been submitted as part of the application.
The application had been amended several times since the original
application was
submitted and it was further noted that the applicant's agent had asked for the
application to be deferred. The site lay
in the countryside and it was explained that the application's red line did not
touch the Morfa Nefyn development boundary in the Local Development Plan. It was noted that land north of the site had
begun to be developed with six houses built.
In
terms of the principle of the development, it was noted that the LDP proposal
maps for the village of Morfa Nefyn showed that the site lay outside the
village development boundary and this was considered tantamount to erecting a
new house in the countryside. Attention
was drawn to policy TAI 16 which involved proposals for affordable housing on
rural exception sites and the purpose of the policy was to free up sites on the
outskirts of settlements to provide affordable housing where houses would
usually not be approved. The policy also noted that an exception site was
located directly adjacent to the development boundary and formed a reasonable
extension to the settlement. The application site was located near a partly
constructed housing estate. However, if looking at the map for Morfa Nefyn in
the Gwynedd Maps Document attached to the LDP, it was clear that the
application site was not located directly adjacent to the development boundary. Attention was drawn to paragraph 5.4 of the
report with regards to the long and extensive history of the land adjacent to
the application. It could be seen that the applicant had space available for
housing development within the boundary without having to consider the
developing land outside the boundary. Even if there was justification for
affordable housing on a rural exception site, it was noted that the developer
had land that abutted the development boundary and therefore there was no need
to develop the site that was subject to the planning application submitted. It
was understood from the Joint Policy Unit that the land bank for houses
provided or that have permission for Morfa Nefyn was greater than the
indicative supply for the village. Due to the current situation, it was not
considered that developing the land in question was a logical development for
the settlement as vacant land was available between the existing houses on the
Maes Twnti estate and the application site and therefore developing the site in
question would create an isolated development with vacant land between it and
the existing houses at Maes Twnti. It could not be considered as a rural
exception site and it would mean building new houses in the countryside, and
the local need for affordable housing had not been proved. It was therefore
considered that the proposal was contrary to relevant policy requirements and
the recommendation of the planning officers' was to refuse the application for
the reasons listed in the report.
(b) In
her absence, it was noted that the Local Member had no objection.
(c) It
was proposed and seconded to refuse the application in accordance with the
planning officers’ recommendation.
(ch) Many
Members noted that this type of development should not be approved on the site
in question as it would intrude on open countryside.
RESOLVED unanimously, to refuse for
the following reasons:
The proposal would
entail building new houses in the countryside where they are not needed for a
rural enterprise. The proposal is, therefore, contrary to Strategic Policy PS
17 and Policy PCYFF 1 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan
2011-2026 (31 July 2017) together with Planning Policy Wales (9th Edition,
November 2016) and Technical Advice Note 6:
Planning for Sustainable Rural Communities.
2. The local need for affordable houses has not been proven and it would not be possible to provide the provision within the development boundary. In addition, the application site is not located directly near the development boundary and it does not form a reasonable extension to the settlement, therefore it cannot be considered as a rural exception site. The proposal is considered to be contrary to the requirements of Policy TAI 16 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan 2011-2026 (31 July 2017).
Supporting documents: