Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest intimated.

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

He advised that his first task would be to establish if the Members of the Local Review Body (LRB) felt that they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review.

Councillor Colville advised that his view was that further information was required and that he would benefit from a site visit.  He added that it would be worthwhile requesting an Area Capacity Evaluation (ACE) from the planning authority.  He referred to the document on page 35 of the pack which suggested that there was already an informal slip for launching boats and he advised he would like to visit the site to establish if there was in fact an informal slipway, and if this was the case, how long it had been in use.  He referred to policy SG LDP CST 1 – Coastal Development and added that he wished to determine if there was any credibility to the claims made by the applicant in terms of this Policy.  He referred to the curtilage and to the five houses which had access to the shore area advising that he would like to know the relationship of the site to all the houses in terms of ownership of the site and whether access to the site was shared or for sole use by the applicants.  Councillors Blair and Devon agreed with Councillor Colville.

Mr Reppke advised the panel that it would be prudent to request the planning authority to provide and ACE and to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the ACE before calling a site visit.  He added that he would investigate the accessibility of the site in order to determine if a site visit could be achieved.  He suggested that the Panel invite the applicant, planning authority and interested parties to attend the site visit.  He also suggested that information be obtained from both the applicant and the planning authority in respect of the curtilage and ownership issues raised by Councillor Colville.

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body agreed with the advice given by Mr Reppke.

Decision

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body unanimously agreed –

1.    To request an Area Capacity Evaluation (ACE) from the planning authority.

2.    To request from the planning authority and the applicant details in respect of the curtilage of all five housing plots and of the access to, and the ownership of the development site, and the plot it is associated with.

3.    To hold an accompanied site visit, subject to checking the accessibility of the site, to assess whether an informal slipway exists on the site and if so how long it has been in use for, and to invite the applicant, planning authority and interested parties to attend.