Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated from Councillor George Freeman.

None declared.

Report by Head of Planning and Regulatory Services

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Charles Reppke, the Head of Governance and Law outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited everyone who wished to speak at the Hearing to identify themselves.  Thereafter introductions were made and the Chair invited Planning to present the application to the Committee.

On a point of order Councillor Fred Hall sought clarification on whether or not this Hearing should go ahead.  He advised that this proposed development was on land being recommended for re-designation as an area of ‘countryside’ instead of within a ‘settlement’ area in the emerging Local Plan.  He asked how the Committee could give approval for land to be built on that was being recommended for re-designation.

Charles Reppke advised that there was documented legal advice on the process of consultation on the Local Plan.  He advised that the re-zoning of this land was not a material consideration in this case as the re-zoning had been objected to and that it would be for the Reporter at a Public Inquiry to determine whether or not this land should be re-designated or not and that this Public Inquiry was too far in the future to be regarded as a material consideration.  He advised that Members were required to determine this application on the basis of the existing Local Plan and that the time for determining that it would be premature to consider the application had not been reached.  He advised that his advice to the Committee was that this Hearing should proceed on the basis of the existing Local Plan and other material considerations.

Councillor Colville sought clarification on where it would leave objectors to the designation in the current Local Plan if this application was granted.  Charles Reppke advised that this process would still go ahead and that Members were not at a point yet which would prevent them from dealing with this case today.  He advised that it could still be 10 or 12 months away before determination of the emerging Local Plan was concluded and that it would not be appropriate to wait a year to determine this application.  He advised that there was case law set out advising when it would be appropriate for applications not to be considered until the conclusion of the Local Development Plan process.

Councillor Hall referred to planning permission being valid for 3 years and that the Applicant could wait until just before expiry of the planning permission to develop the land.  He asked if in the meantime that land was re-zoned would that mean the Applicant would be in breach of the new Local Plan.  Charles Reppke advised that this would not be the case as the Applicant would have their consent to develop the land.  For the avoidance of doubt he advised that Members were dealing with the current adopted Local Plan and the zoning that applied within it.

At this point Councillor Robert G MacIntyre joined the meeting and Charles Reppke confirmed that he would be able to take part in the meeting as the Hearing process had still to commence.

The Chair then invited Planning to present their case.

PLANNING

Richard Kerr presented the case on behalf of the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services.  He advised that this was a local detailed application for the erection of two detached dwellings and ancillary development on land adjacent to a property known as Balnagowan, Kilmore.   It was an irregular shaped piece of open pasture bisected by a small watercourse which lay to the south of an existing cluster of dwellings, which at present comprised six buildings on the north side of the road, and three buildings on the opposite side of the road adjoining the application site.  He advised that the land adjoined open agricultural pasture to the south.   He advised that the cluster was informal in its layout except for more recently constructed buildings on the right which comprised a linear row of three addressing the public road.  He referred to a plan showing the location of the cluster relative to the remainder of Kilmore, the flatter land which was available for agricultural use and the surrounding more elevated wooded land.  He also referred to the proposed layout of the development and advised that the plots would be bisected by a small watercourse and by a realigned electricity line.  During the course of the processing of the application, he advised that a minor amendment was made to the design of plot 2 which deleted the two first floor windows from Elevation A and included two additional roof lights in Elevation B as a consequence, and so these were the plans for which permission was sought, rather than those originally submitted.  He referred to the location of the site in the context of the adopted Argyll and Bute Local Plan and advised that it lay within the pink coloured ‘settlement’ boundary for Kilmore, which was fragmented into various patches to reflect the dispersed but clustered nature of the settlement as a whole.  He advised that land captured within settlement boundaries was subject to the operation of Policy STRAT DC 1 which established a presumption in favour of small scale development within Minor Settlements, such as Kilmore, on appropriate infill, rounding-off and redevelopment sites, subject to it being compatible with a rural settlement location and to it meeting other relevant development plan policy requirements.  He advised that small scale was defined in the plan as being development not exceeding five dwelling units.  Policy LP HOU 1 also supported housing development within settlement boundaries provided that it did not give rise to unacceptable environmental servicing or access impacts.   He advised that Policy LP ENV 19 required development to be of a scale and laid out in such a manner as to secure integration with existing development.  Appendix A to the plan provided advice on design and materials which was complimented by that within the Council’s published Sustainable Design Guide.  In this case, he advised that the scale of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.