Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that parties to the Review were not permitted to address the Local Review Body (LRB).  He advised that the only participants entitled to speak would be the Members of the LRB panel and Mr Reppke who would provide procedural advice if required.

The Chairman advised that his first task would be to establish whether or not the LRB felt they had sufficient information before them to reach a decision on the Review.  The LRB agreed unanimously that they had enough information to make a decision on the application.  The Chair asked Members if they thought it would be beneficial to undertake a site inspection in advance of determining the Review.  The LRB agreed unanimously that a site inspection would not be necessary as they were familiar with the area in question and agreed to proceed to determine the case.

The Chair advised that the main issue of concern was access to the site from the public road which was a very narrow road with few passing places and no footpath and Councillor McNaughton agreed that this was the main issue of concern for the LRB to focus on.

Councillor MacMillan advised that having previously worked with Strathclyde Regional Council Roads Department many years ago he was aware that there were problems with this road even back then. 

Councillor MacMillan noted that the Applicant had lodged an Appeal with Scottish Ministers on the grounds of a deemed refusal of an application for outline planning permission in 2009 for 4 plots which covered the plot referred in this current Review and noted that the Reporter had refused this Appeal and that one of the reasons for this was access to the site from a narrow, poorly aligned road and that further development in this area was undesirable without significant road improvements.

The LRB unanimously agreed that this Appeal should not be upheld on the grounds of road safety issues.

Decision

It was unanimously agreed to uphold the Planner’s decision to refuse planning permission in principle for the following reason:-

The proposed development would result in the intensification in vehicular use of a sub standard public road with no delineation between pedestrian or vehicular use.  The improvements which would be required to upgrade the road that serves the proposed site cannot be achieved within the confines of the application site or other land within the applicant’s control, and there is no indication that the applicant can complete any improvements remotely from the site.  The proposal is therefore contrary to the provisions of Argyll and Bute Local Plan policies LP HOU 1, LP ENV 1 and LP TRAN 4, which resist intensification in the use of sub standard accesses and junctions, other than in cases where the improvements required can be achieved as part of the overall development.  In the absence of such improvements the proposal is considered to be contrary to the interests of highway safety.

(Reference: Notice of Review and Supporting Documentation and Responses from Interested Parties, submitted)