Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest intimated.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Argyll and Bute Local Review Body to consider the planning application for plot 2A Kilmaluaig, Isle of Tiree and advised that no person present would be entitled to speak other than the Members of the Local Review Body (LRB) and Mr Reppke who would provide procedural advice if required.

 

The Chair advised that his first task would be to establish if the Members of the LRB felt that they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review.

 

Councillor Colville advised that he was unsure of why there is a Special Conservation Area in Tiree and would like justification from planning as to why it exists.  Councillor Colville stated that he could not make sense of the site plan and it advised that it failed to provide him with any information about the site. He also wished detail on the solar gain aspects of the proposal.

 

Councillor MacMillan agreed with the points stated by Councillor Colville and felt that a site inspection would be beneficial in order to gain a better understanding of the site and surrounding area.

 

Councillor Colville stated that although the documentation states that there are houses built with similar detail just out with the conservation area, we are unaware of when these houses were built.

 

Charles Reppke advised that as the plan provided by planning is low in detail, it might be beneficial to the members if they requested further plans and photos in order to get a better idea of the site.

 

Councillor McNaughton agreed that additional photos and plans of the site would be valuable and asked the members if they felt the additional information requested  would be enough to make a decision or if they felt a site inspection was also required.

 

The members agreed that a site inspection was required along side the additional information that had been requested.

 

Decision

 

The LRB agreed:-

 

1. To hold an accompanied site visit to view the application site

 

2. to invite the Applicant, the Applicant’s Agent, Officers from Planning and Consultees to attend the site inspection

 

3. to request that Planning provides

 

a)       justification as to why this area is a Special Conservation Area

b)      additional photographs and plans of the site

c)      a commentary as to when the houses that exist with similar features just out with the conservation area were built

 

4. to request that the Agent provides a commentary on the solar gain of the proposed property and

 

5. to adjourn the meeting and reconvene at the conclusion of the site inspection.

 

The meeting of the Argyll and Bute Local Review Body reconvened on Thursday 21 August 2014 at 13:45pm in An Talla Hall, Isle of Tiree, Argyll

 

Present:          Councillor Alex McNaughton

                        Councillor Rory Colville          

                        Councillor Donald MacMillan

 

Attending:        Patricia O’Neill, Central Governance Manager (Advisor)

                        Rebecca Hepburn, Senior Committee Assistant(Minute Taker)

 

The Chair welcomed all those present to the meeting and asked introduced the members of the ABLRB. The Chair asked Patricia O’Neill to explain the procedure of the meeting.

 

The Chair referred to the additional information that was requested at the previous meeting and was now before the LRB for consideration. The Chair asked the members of the Committee to confirm if they had enough information to make a decision.

 

Councillor Colville referred to the site inspection (note of site inspection attached as Appendix A to this Minute) which the LRB had attended prior to the start of this meeting and stated that now he had seen the site, he felt there was enough information to make a decision.

 

Councillor MacMillan stated that he also felt that he had enough information to make a decision.

 

The Chair reported that he felt that the site inspection was very beneficial and he agreed that he also had enough information to make a decision.

 

Councillor Colville stated that the planners have based their decision on the Local Development Plan however the Local Development Plan also states that houses should benefit from solar gain where possible, therefore in his view there was a conflict. He advised that in his opinion the application will have a neutral effect to the conservation area.  The principle of residential development has been approved. Retaining more land in agricultural production given the size of the croft holding, as well as the improved resilience from adverse weather provided a justification for a minor departure from policy LP ENV 14 on the basis that the dispersed nature of the settlement pattern means that the impact  of a single non conforming building will have no more than a neutral impact on the character of the conservation area the development can be approved on the basis of the conditions applied to planning consent 12/00487/pp with the amendment to condition 4 to make reference to the submitted plans and drawing for application 14/0003/LRB. He advised that he was minded to propose a motion in this regard, and invited colleagues to comment on this.

 

Councillor MacMillan advised that in his opinion this was a difficult decision. Overturning the planners decisions would go against the Local Development Plan and the crofting gain would be minimal. He advised that in his opinion there are other ways in which the house could benefit from solar gain and therefore his intention was to support the planners recommendation.

 

The Chair advised that he had a great deal of sympathy towards this application, however stated that he also had a lot of justification in supporting the planners and the Local Development Plan. He reported that in his opinion the justification to deviate from the Local Development Plan is not strong enough. He stated that he did not see any reason why he should not support the planners.

 

In the event there was no support for the motion proposed by Councillor Colville the Chair therefore moved that the notice of review be refused for the reasons stated in the original decision notice. 

 

Decision

 

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body agreed by a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.