Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated from Councillors Gordon Blair,  Rory Colville, Alistair MacDougall and Neil MacIntyre.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He then outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited the Head of Governance and Law to identify those present who wished to speak.

PLANNING

Sandra Davies gave the following presentation on the application on behalf of the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services.  She advised that she had received an email dated 22 January 2017 from Councillor Ellen Morton advising that she would like to speak at today’s Hearing.  Councillor Morton noted that while she was personally disappointed that this site has been approved as a housing allocation she accepted that this may make it difficult for Members to refuse the application.  She did, however, feel that it was essential that the roads recommendations made by the Roads Officer were attached to the consent if approved.

In addition Mrs Davies advised of other recent objections received which came in too late to be included in a supplementary report.  These were from Robert Harvey, Duncan Stirling, Scott Elliot, Julie Lang, Jill Hepburn and John Burdon.  These objections related to the adequacy of the proposed off site road improvement plan submitted by the Applicant and also to drainage issues.  In terms of drainage the Council’s Flooding advisor has been consulted and conditions are proposed.

Throughout the processing of this planning application there have been a number of objections relating to roads issues and this matter will be covered in detail in the planning presentation.

This application is for planning permission in principle for a residential development on land at Kirkton Farm in Cardross.  This site is currently used as an agricultural field and is located at the north of the settlement of Cardross.  Cardross Primary School lies immediately to the south of the application site.

The site which measures approximately 6 hectares is identified as a Housing Allocation H2002 within the adopted Local Development Plan.  This was a greenbelt release through the Local Development Plan process.  It is identified as having capacity for 158 dwellings with a requirement for 25% affordable housing.  Due to the size of the site and the number of dwellings proposed, this application is defined as being a Major application.  The statutory period of pre application consultation including a public event has been undertaken in accordance with the legislation prior to this planning application being submitted.

As this is a Planning Permission in Principle application, it is only the principle of residential development that is being applied for and therefore the plans lack detail.  The detailed issues will be addressed at the Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions (AMSC) stage.  This is a form of planning application which formally discharges conditions placed on PPP applications.

While no numbers of houses have been given, the Applicant’s supporting statement indicates that approximately 140 units are proposed, 35 of which would be affordable.

The site is bounded to the west by Darleith Road and to the east by a continuation of Barrs Road which is currently a farm track.  The most significant determining issue relating to this application relates to roads matters and in particular the provision of a safe vehicular access route from the A814 through the existing residential area to the site.  Many of the objections relate to road and access concerns.  A great deal of discussion has taken place between Council officers and the Applicant’s transport consultants on this aspect of the proposal and this has included discussions with the Council’s Senior Management including the Head of Roads and Amenity Services and the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services.  A set of drawings detailing the proposed off-site road improvements have been submitted by the Applicant.  These illustrate that third party land will be required in two areas, namely to the west of Darleith Road and an area between Mill Road and the proposed entrance to the site.  Section C of Supplementary Report number 2 advises on the developer’s endeavours with regard to land procurement.  Whether future negotiations over access to third party land are ultimately successful or not cannot be a material consideration.  However, the Applicant has indicated that there is a willingness in principle to make land required for such improvements available and this provides reassurance to Members that the granting of permission with a suspensive roads condition would be a legitimate course of action as in these circumstances there is a realistic prospect that a permission on this basis could prove capable of implementation.

Mrs Davies advised that Campbell Divertie, the Area Roads Officer would provide further detail on the roads issues following her presentation.  She then ran through a series of presentation slides showing the site taken from the farm track which is a continuation of Barrs Road looking towards Darleith Road.   She pointed out that the site was an open agricultural field surrounded by hedgerows.  There are no statutory or non-statutory designated areas for nature conservation which cover the site and it is not considered that the development of this site would have significant adverse impact.

Further slides showed the site edged red submitted as part of the planning application and an indicative layout of the site showing accesses on both Darleith Road and Barrs Road.

This is a planning permission in principle application and therefore there is a lack of detail.  The application is recommended for approval subject to 17 conditions.  Eleven of these conditions require the submission of further information which will be subject to neighbour notification and as in other applications there will be the opportunity for representations at the AMSC stage.  These require to be submitted as a formal application and cover details relating to:

·         Site layout and design;

·         Affordable housing;

·         Details of further traffic calming measures on the A814

·         Details of the internal layout including details that no more than 20 houses will be served by the east access via Barrs Road.

·         Details of an archaeological field evaluation to be undertaken prior to any development or ground breaking works.

·         Drainage and SUDs details;

·         Hard and soft  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.