Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Audrey Forrest, Daniel Hampsey, Graham Hardie, Fiona Howard, Willie Hume, Andrew Kain, Paul Kennedy, Liz McCabe and Peter Wallace.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Development and Economic Growth

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He then outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited the Governance, Risk and Safety Manager to identify all those present who wished to speak.

 

PLANNING

 

Derek Wilson gave the following presentation on behalf of the Head of Development and Economic Growth:

 

A supplementary report has been produced due to late submissions before the original committee presentation and before this Hearing. The points made in the submissions and copied to the supplementary report are generally already covered under previous comments or within the Report of Handling and its appendices. The officer is not minded to alter the recommendation on this basis.

 

The application is being presented to PPSL as a result of the initial 24 negative representations which is above the threshold for a delegated decision. The degree of local interest and sufficient points arising from the responses deemed it necessary to present the application to PPSL for determination. The names and addresses of the respondents and a summary of the reasons for objecting are contained within the report of handling.

 

The application has now attracted 32 representations which raise objections to the proposal and a generally negative representation from the community council which is regarded as a consultation. The additional representations included a petition, two councillor representations and another representations received before both the committee meeting and this hearing.

 

Slide 1: Location and site

 

The main purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the detailed Report of Handling and to offer background commentary and visuals to aid members in their considerations and recommendations.

 

The RoH examines the spatial strategy of four staff accommodation blocks proposed for hotel and leisure sports workers with additional roads and services infrastructure. The principle concerns are an examination of non-domestic housing to large scale (as defined by policy) within the settlement of Craighouse and as a tourism related use which by its scale is a departure from the terms of standard Class 7 business use within a settlement.

 

Many consultees highlighted the lack of public pre engagement especially the yet to be completed neighbouring development where potential occupiers were not in their homes and therefore not notified or otherwise engaged by the applicant. Officers have identified that it would be appropriate for Members to consider whether or not to hold a discretionary hearing prior to determining the application.  Councillor Currie made a representation that he supports a hearing and if that is agreed he would prefer it not to be held virtually. I would ask the Chair whether the Committee wish to reach a view on that issue before proceeding with the presentation.

 

Introduction

 

Slide 2 existing topology

 

Application 21/02141/PP is an express permission submission by Ardfin Estate Ltd and GCA and D Ltd to build four accommodation blocks to house workers at the applicants’ leisure and hospitality businesses. The approx. 1.87 hectare south and easterly sloping site is bounded by the main road, countryside woodland, a new housing development and an existing row of houses. The site is wholly within the defined settlement area of Craighouse and will utilise some of the infrastructure being developed for the new housing development. Ground levelling will be required for the site but only around half of the site area will be required for the proposal with the more difficult ground to the north and east (roadside) remaining generally undeveloped. 

 

This is a change of use of the ground to class 7 of the 1997 use classes order as housing to be used for the business needs in other sites in south Jura. A design statement outlining roads and infrastructure, design and landscape, recycling and sustainability was supplied, and the applicant provided additional business information required to assess the proposal as part of the businesses and their consolidation and growth in an area designated as economically fragile in the LDP. This designation allowed the larger scale of the site to be examined under policy and not as a departure. 

 

The visualisation shows the undeveloped nature of the present site. There was a pre application consultation which informed the applicant of the constraints of the site and its limitations regarding potential uses.

 

We will now move onto the context and detail of the proposal.

 

Slide 3: LDP

 

This is an extract from the local development plan. The whole of the site is within the key rural settlement of Craighouse/Keills and the National Scenic Area (NSA). Development is encouraged in the settlement area although the scale of this proposal is larger than expected. The design is also required to be sympathetic to the NSA and to views across and within it. That the site is in the void between existing and developing housing and is set back from the road within a rising landscape towards surrounding woodland is deemed acceptable in this regard. There are no plans to extend the settlement boundary in the emerging LDP 2 and therefore due to spatial and topographical boundaries it is expected that this will be the final development in this area. 

 

Slide 4 and 5: Proposal

 

The proposal is for four housing block of varying sizes to accommodate up to forty staff in varied accommodation types although 26 will be single units with private facilities and access to communal and assembly areas. The blocks are to be arranged around a central area with the main access leading to cul de sac and generally rear parking. A biomass plant and air source heat pump will also be on site in the block containing the main amenity areas. The orientation and arrangement of the blocks will reduce the visual impact within the site from the few available vantage points in the surrounding area.   

 

Recommendation based on policy

 

Policy LDP DM 1 sets out the requirement for development up to medium scale on appropriate sites. On the site visit the officer assessed the suitability of the overall site in its context and setting while also appraising opportunity sites within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.