Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and 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.

The Members of the LRB agreed that they had sufficient information before them and proceeded to determine the case.

Councillor Trail referred to the earlier site inspection (note of site inspection attached at Appendix A to this Minute) and advised that he had found it very useful.  He said that he would consider this development to be infill because of the natural boundary formed by the road, the line of trees and the sloping land on the other side of the road and that he was minded to find a way to approve this application.

Councillor Forrest confirmed that she thought the development would constitute rounding off.  She pointed out that it had been confirmed at the site inspection that the trees would not be removed so would form a barrier around the site and separate it from the slope across the road.  She advised that she would like to see this application approved.

Councillor Kinniburgh advised that he too found the site inspection very useful.  He said that when he had first considered the report presented at the previous meeting which had identified a number of policies to justify reasons for refusal, he was minded to support the Planning Officer’s conclusions.  He advised that he had found the site inspection very beneficial as having viewed the site, he was of the view that this development site could be classed as rounding off.  He pointed out that it had been heard on site from the Applicant’s Agent that there was no intention to remove the trees.  He advised that he appreciated that this was a planning permission in principle application and that what may come forward could be completely different to what has been given as indicative.  However, he advised that given that the trees would not be removed, he said this would form a natural boundary.  Along with the road and the mound behind, he said that he believed this could be classed as rounding off or infill.  In terms of the North West Argyll Coast APQ, he advised that for him an APQ was like a green belt – very difficult to overcome.  In this case he advised that due to the location of the proposed dwelling, which would be behind existing properties, there would not be much of a view out over the bay and that he did not think it would be detrimental to the APQ in this instance.

He put forward the following Motion which was unanimously approved:

Due to the natural boundary of the trees, the road and the mound behind, it is considered that this development site would represent an appropriate opportunity for rounding off within the Countryside Zone as required by policy LDP DM 1 of the adopted Argyll and Bute Local Development 2015.

Due to the site having limited views of the bay due to being located behind existing dwellings, it is considered that it would not have an unacceptable or materially harmful impact upon the character and quality of the North West Argyll Coast APQ and the wider landscape and therefore would not be contrary to the terms of policies LDP DM 3 and SG ENV 13 of the adopted LDP.

As it has been confirmed by the Applicant’s Agent that it is not proposed to fell any of the existing mature beech trees, it is considered that the proposal would not be contrary to the provisions of SG LDP ENV 6 which seeks to resist development which would have an adverse impact on trees.

For the reasons stated above Planning Permission in Principle should be granted subject to the conditions and reasons detailed in the Planning Officer’s report contained within the Agenda pack for this meeting.

Decision

The Argyll and Bute LRB, having considered the merits of the case de novo, unanimously agreed to grant planning permission in principle subject to the following conditions and reasons:

General

1.    Plans and particulars of the matters specified in Conditions 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 below shall be submitted by way of application(s) for Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions in accordance with the timescales and other limitations in Section 59 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended. Thereafter the development shall be completed wholly in accordance with the approved details.

Reason:  In accordance with Section 59 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended).

• This consent constitutes a Planning Permission in Principle under Section 59 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended and as such does not authorise the commencement of development until matters requiring the further consent of the Planning Authority have been satisfied.

• Application(s) for Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions must be made in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 12 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2008 within the time limits specified in Section 59 of the Act.

• Having regard to Regulation 12, application(s) for the Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions must be submitted within 3 years from the date of which Planning Permission in Principle was granted. The exception being where an earlier submission for the Approval of Matters Specified in Conditions was refused or dismissed on appeal, in which case only one further application in respect of all outstanding matters requiring further approval of the Planning Authority may be submitted within a period of 6 months from determination of the earlier application. Any elements of the Planning Permission in Principle for which further approval of the Planning Authority has not been sought within the time periods summarised above will no longer be capable of being implemented within the terms of this permission.

• The development to which this planning permission in principle relates must commence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.