Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Donald MacMillan and Jean Moffat.

There were no declarations of interest intimated.

Report by Head of Development and Economic Growth

The Chair welcomed everyone to the hearing which was being held on a virtual basis in light of government guidance and Coronavirus legislation on public gatherings in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  For the purposes of the sederunt, Mr Jackson, Clerk to the Committee, read out the names of the Members of the Committee and asked them to confirm their attendance.

In advance of the meeting interested parties had confirmed that they would make presentations to the Committee.  Mr Jackson read out the names of those representatives and asked them to confirm their attendance.

The Chair, having explained the hearing procedure that would be followed, invited the Planning Officer to present the case.

 

PLANNING

David Moore, Senior Planning Officer presented the application as follows on behalf of the Head of Development and Economic Growth.

Slide 1

As members will be aware from the Officers report and online application details

(i)             Development Requiring Express Planning Permission

 

• Erection of 101  dwellings
• Associated internal and external roads infrastructure to include footways and parking;
• Provision of SuDS compliant drainage infrastructure.
• Provision of landscaping,
• Provision of formal and informal and amenity areas

 

(ii)           Other specified operations

 

·         Connection to public water supply

·         Connection to public sewage system

 

This indicates the red line boundary of the site it is bounded by Alexander Street to the east, Gordon Street to the south and east and the top part of Nelson Street to the south.

Slide 2

The application is on an allocated housing site (H-AL 2/3) which has been determined to be suitable for 100 Units. As the application proposes 101 units on the site the application, on point of principle for housing development accords with the LDP in terms of land use site allocation and scale.

Slide 3

This indicates the red line boundary of the application site and shows the relationship of the site to adjoining residential properties.

The site is currently used by local residents for informal recreation. It is clear that the site is valued by the local community, demonstrated by the large number of objections which have been received to the current planning application from local residents resulting in members deciding that a hearing was appropriate to determine this application.

Slide 4

 

This slide shows the site boundary marked on an aerial photograph of the site. Due to the current covid hearing procedures not allowing for a site visit a larger number of photographs than normally would be the case have been added to the presentation. This is to provide members with a clearer understanding of the character and appearance of the site and its surroundings.

The following slides 5 to 25 will provide a record of walking through and around the site to provide a greater understanding of the character and appearance of the site and its surroundings.

Slide 26

This indicates the proposed layout of the application and shows the formal and informal amenity space areas in green. With the smaller rectangles indicating the proposed location of the formal play areas. The provision and maintenance of these will be subject to conditions as is normal practice.

Members are requested to note that the overall density and size of the plots and footprints of the proposal are large for a modern housing development. The overall scale and density of the proposals is considered to be acceptable and in character with the local area.

The two vehicular access and egress points are indicated in grey, one to Alexander Street and one to Gordon Street. A Transportation Assessment dealing with roads and junction capacities has been submitted in support of the proposals and the Area Roads Engineer raises no objections to the proposals.

Slides 27, 28, 29 House types proposed

The following slides indicate the mix of detached and semi detaches houses proposed as part of the application, indicating that on some of the plots they will be a mixture of single storey and two storey reflecting the sloping nature of this site.

Slides 30 and 31

The 3D renders offer additional clarification of the how the mix of single and two story elements of the development will relate to the streets to be formed.

Members are requested to note that layered landscaping, to include tree planting within the plots will be required as part of landscaping the site in order to assist in in the houses into the rising hillside.

Slide 32

Referring back to the general layout arrangement, The applicant has provided details of the slope of the site through four cross sections AA to D-D as shown of this plan. These cross sections form the next slide.

Slide 33

These sections indicate the general arrangement for developing the site and addressing slopes within it and also the relationship between the existing houses on Gordon Street /Alexander Street and the proposed houses.

As set out in the Main report. Window to window distances meet required standards and in many cases considerably exceed them. Officers have also conditioned that full details of any retaining walls are submitted and approved prior to construction as well as all other external materials proposed on the site.

Slide 34

This is an extract from the submitted drainage and flooding proposals which shows the complex flow pattersn which currently exist across the site. This is considered by officers an important matter in determining the current planning application as this is a site of known flooding problems and many objector have correctly raised flooding as an important material consideration in respect of determining the current planning application.

Members will also note that the main report clarifies that the area is identified in the Dunoon Surface Water Management Plan (Dec 2019) as an area which has existing flooding issues.

Lengthy discussions between the applicant and the Councils flooding advisor have ensured that the housing proposals will address existing and projected flows of water through the site and therefore the current flooding problems for residents should be addressed by the implementation of these housing proposals.

The proposals will therefore bring a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.