Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair, Councillor Gordon Blair, welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He explained that no person present would be entitled to speak other than the Members of the Local Review Body (LRB) and Mr Jackson, who would provide procedural advice if required.

He 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 Brown stated that she felt she had enough information to come to a decision.  She advised that she had considered requesting a site visit but now felt it was not necessary due to all the information they have before them.

Councillor Wallace stated he would’ve liked more information on the use of the condition from Planners to establish how widely used it was, but agreed he had sufficient information to come to a decision.

Councillor Blair stated he had similar questions about the use of the condition advising that it felt presumptuous to add such a condition; if the applicant wanted to move towards using the property as a short-term let they would be required to follow the process for this, which was through an application for a short term let licence and may include a further planning application for a Change of Use permission.  He advised that, overall, he felt the condition was onerous and that he was minded to support the removal of it from the permission.

Councillor Brown stated that she failed to see why they couldn’t leave the condition on as the applicant had stated she did not wish to use the property as a short-term let.

Councillor Wallace stated that as the Council had declared a housing emergency he felt they had a duty to protect available housing under the National Planning Framework Policy 30.

Mr Jackson advised the LRB that they should consider whether or not they thought the condition was onerous in regard to the application.  He explained that if the owner decided in the future that they wished to use the property as a short-term let they would need to follow the procedure for that, and the Planners would be consulted as part of the process.

Councillor Blair proposed that the condition be regarded as onerous and that it be removed.  Councillor Wallace seconded that and Councillor Brown confirmed that she was also happy to support that given that planning would be consulted in any future application for a change of use or short-term let licence.

Decision

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body, having considered the merits of the case de novo, unanimously agreed to remove Condition 5 from the Planning Permission.

(Reference: Notice of Review and Supporting Documentation, comments from interested parties, and comments from Applicant, submitted)