Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence for the meeting were received from Councillors L Jameson and K Horkin

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 December 2023 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest in respect of matters contained in the agenda.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests.

There was no public participation.

Report of the Director of Economic Development and Planning – copy enclosed

Late agenda report on this item is to be circulated at Committee

Members noted the late item report.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Deferred and delegated to the Director of Economic Development and Planning for approval subject to the conditions in the report with amendments to condition 2 following confirmation/agreement of the final submitted drawing package:

1. The development hereby approved must be begun not later than the expiration of three years beginning with the date of this permission.

REASON: Required to be imposed by Section 51 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

2. Unless explicitly required by condition within this consent, the development hereby permitted shall be carried out in complete accordance with the proposals as detailed on drawings:

List of approved drawings to be confirmed and agreed

REASON: For the avoidance of doubt and to clarify which plans are relevant to the consent

hereby approved.

3. Notwithstanding the submitted details, details or specifications of all materials to be used on the external surfaces of the development hereby approved shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority before their use in the proposed development. The approved materials shall be implemented within the development in strict accordance with the approved details.

REASON: In order that the Local Planning Authority may ensure that the materials to be used are appropriate to the locality and respond positively to the inherent character of the area.

4. Prior to their installation details of a scheme for any external building mounted or ground mounted lighting/illumination, shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. For the avoidance of doubt the submitted details shall include luminance levels and demonstrate how any proposed external lighting has been designed and located to avoid excessive light spill/pollution and shall include details to demonstrate how artificial illumination of important wildlife habitats is minimised/mitigated.

The lighting schemes(s) be implemented in accordance with the approved details and retained as approved unless agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority

REASON: To enable the Local Planning Authority to exercise control over development which could prove materially harmful the character and visual amenities of the immediate area and to minimise/mitigate the potential impacts upon protected species resultant from the development and to limit unnecessary light spill/pollution

5. Notwithstanding the submitted details, prior to their installation, details of the proposed roof mounted Photovoltaic Panels, including section details, shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out in strict accordance with the approved details.

REASON: In order that the Local Planning Authority may ensure that the detailed design and external appearance of the proposal is appropriate to the locality and responds positively to the inherent character of the area.

6. Notwithstanding the submitted details, prior to their installation, details of the provision of proposed Electric vehicle Charging Points, shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out in strict accordance with the approved details. For  ...  view the full minutes text for item 557a

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Grant planning permission subject to the following conditions:-

1. The development must be begun not later than the expiration of three years beginning with the date of this permission.

Reason: Required to be imposed by Section 51 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

2. Unless explicitly required by condition within this consent, the development hereby permitted shall be carried out in complete accordance with the proposals as detailed on drawings:

 Location Plan (1:1250)

 Proposed Development (1:500)

 Proposed Development (1:200)

 Proposed Elevations (1:50)

Reason: For the avoidance of doubt and to clarify which plans are relevant to the

consent.

3. Notwithstanding the submitted details, details of all materials to be used on the external

surfaces of the development hereby approved shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority before their use in the proposed development. The approved materials shall be implemented within the development in strict accordance with the approved details.

Reason: In order that the Local Planning Authority may ensure that the materials to be used are appropriate to the locality and respond positively to the inherent character of the area.

RESOLVED THE COMMITTEE:

Refused planning permission for the following reasons:

1. The proposal is considered to be in direct conflict with Policy DMG1 and DMB3 of the Ribble Valley Core Strategy insofar that the proposed development would result in significant harm to the residential amenities of the occupiers of 1 & 2 Ribblesdale Place, Rush Paddock Farm, Paddock Barn and The Bungalow which all have elevations that overlook the site and which would experience adverse loss of privacy and increased noise and disturbance impacts caused by parking and access arrangements associated with the development. This is also in conflict with the National Planning Policy Framework which requires planning decisions to avoid noise giving rise to significant adverse impacts on health and quality of life.

2. The proposal is considered to be in direct conflict with Key Statement EN2 and Policies DMG1 and DMB3 of the Ribble Valley Core Strategy in that the proposed lodges, by virtue of their overall scale, design and cramped form of development would fail to be in keeping with the character of the landscape, being of significant harm to the character and visual amenity of the area.

3. The proposal would result in the introduction of an incongruous, anomalous and discordant form of development by virtue of the cramped layout, design and materials proposed that would significantly visually compromise and undermine the open aspect of the area that defines the inherent character of the immediate and wider area. As such the proposal would result in an unacceptable visual impact to the character and visual amenities of the open countryside contrary to Policies DMG1, DMG2 and DMB3 of the Ribble Valley Core Strategy 2008-2028.

4. The proposed development is considered to be indirect conflict with Policy DMG3 of the Ribble Valley Core Strategy insofar that the proposed development will have a significant adverse impact on highway safety due to the substandard visibility splay to the south side of the site access along Osbaldeston Lane together with the lack of footways linking the site with bus stops and facilities which could result in potential conflict with other highway users. The lack of footways and poor connectivity to nearby services and facilities would also place increased reliance on the private motor vehicle by occupants of the development, as opposed to encouraging sustainable means of travel, which is in conflict with the National Planning Policy Framework.

Mr Michael Hargreaves spoke in support of the application.

Councillor A Wilkins-Odudu was given permission to speak and spoke in support of the application.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Minded to grant planning permission. The application is to be brought back to a future committee with draft conditions

Report of the Chief Exective enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report providing Committee with an update on planning enforcement.  Members were informed that the Council currently had 90 live planning enforcement matters, of which 32 had submitted planning applications awaiting decisions.  Between 12 September 2023 and 02 January 2024, the Council received 37 new complaints.

The proposed amendments to the Council’s Planning Enforcement Policy were outlined to Committee, i.e. that when formal enforcement action is taken, ward Councillors and the Chair of Planning & Development Committee will be informed.

In response to a query from Councillor Spencer, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services provided a summary of the action that the Council could take if there had been a breach of planning control.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

Approved the amendments to the Planning Enforcement Policy.           

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report seeking for Members to agree a revised revenue budget for 2023/24 for this Committee.

Members were reminded that the original estimate for this current financial year was set in March 2023 but there can be numerous variations to the budget as the year progresses, particularly through the budget monitoring process.  At this time of year, the Council revise the estimates for the current financial year to predict the likely outturn.

It was noted that 5% had been originally allowed for pay increases and 7.5% for price increases.  The pay award for 2023/24 had now been settled and the overall cost for the Council was 6.5%, which was approximately £170,000 above what had been allowed for.  The changes to the level in inflation had also been taken into account.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive summarised some of the substantial movements for members’ information.  She advised that the total movement from the Original Estimate to the Revised Estimate was a decrease of £50,010, or £34,350 after movements to and from earmarked reserves.

RESOLVED:

Agree the revenue revised estimate for 2023/24.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report asking Members to agree the draft revenue budget for 2024/25, for consideration as Special Policy and Finance Committee.

The Council’s three-year budget forecast had been presented to Policy and Finance Committee in September 2023 when it predicted that there would be the following budget gaps: £877k in 2024/25, £2.261m in 2025/26 and £2.740m in 2026/27, after allowing for use of general fund balances.  The biggest factors affecting the forecast were the:

-        threat of losing the New Homes Bonus

-        assumption that the ‘One-off Funding Guarantee’ was indeed a one-off for 2023/24

-        Level of interest rates and inflation

The key updates to the September 2023 forecast were summarised as follows:

-        The continuation of the ‘One-off Funding Guarantee’ where required

-        The New Homes Bonus and the Rural Delivery Grant will both continue for 2024/25

-        The Revenue Support Grant will increase in line with CPI with no negative RSG

-        Business rates will not be reset and Business Rate Pooling will continue

-        A council tax referendum principle of up to 3% or £5 for district councils

-        Ribble Valley’s Core Spending Power is set to increase by 4.7%

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive highlighted some of the main variations to net expenditure for this Committee, which included inflationary increases and the 25% national increase in planning fees.  However planning fee income was expected to be lower than the inflated base mainly due to a reduction in the number of major planning applications being received.

The total movement from the Original Estimate in 2023/34 to the Original Estimate 2024/25 was an increase of £93,880, or £41,680 after movements to and from earmarked reserves.

The Director or Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report asking for approval of the 2023/24 revised estimate for this Committee’s capital programme.                                                                                            

£26,420 had originally been approved for one capital scheme, namely for residual planning system upgrades.  It was proposed that this sum be left within the 2023/24 revised capital programme.

For this Committee’s future capital programme, there were no previously approved capital schemes for 2024/25 to 2027/28 to review and no new capital scheme bids were submitted for 2028/29.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approve the 2023/24 revised estimate of £26,420 for this Committee’s capital programme

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed.

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing Committee in relation to year-end reports for 2021/21 and 2022/23 that detail performance against local performance indicators.The report provided an overview of the Council’s performance up to 31 March 2023. 

Analysis showed that of the 21 Planning Services key performance indicators (KPIs) that could be compared to target:

·     9.5% (2) of the KPIs met target and or were ontrack.

·     9.5% (2) of the KPIs close to target where delivery was on track and was currently being managed.

·     0% (0) of the KPIs missed target where performance was or was likely to be offtrack.

·     81% (17) of the KPIs provide data only.

Of the 21 Planning Services KPIs where performance trend can be compared over the years:

·     43% (9) of the KPIs had improved

·     9.5% (2) of KPIs stayed the same

·     47.5% (10) of PIs worsened

Analysis showed that of the 4 Building Control KPIs that could be compared to target:

·     50% (2) met target and or were ontrack.

·     50% (2) of the KPIs close to target where delivery was on track and was currently being managed.

Of the 4 Building Control KPIs where performance trend can be compared over the years:

·     25% (1) of the KPIs had improved

·     75% (3) of KPIs stayed the same

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report confirming that the membership of the Working Group under the remit of this Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2023/2024 remained unchanged following changes to political groups.

Members noted the contents of the report.

Members noted the contents of the Appeals report.

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There were no minutes from working groups.

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There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

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