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The Committee received and considered the report from the Planning Officer.
The Planning Officer reported that the site was situated to the south of 74 Station Road, Beechcroft, Ormesby St Margaret and access to the site is through land that was part of its curtilage and which benefited from planning permission for a seven unit scheme. This is taken off a stub called Foster Close currently offering access to two dwellings.
The Planning Officer reported that Ormesby was catergorised as a larger village where 30% of development was expected to take place. The site was farmland, mainly Grade 1 agricultural land and outside the village residential boundary and par of the conservation area touched the site boundary in the south west corner.
The Planning Officer reported that this was an outline application with access being the one matter identified as being for consideration. The submitted drawings were therefore indicative only. However, because of the affordable homes legal agreement for onsite provision regarding conclusion before approval in outline, the numbers of properties proposed is considered established as part of this application. At this stage, the indicative proposal is to construct a mix of three and four bedroom houses totaling 33 properties, arranged around a looped access.
The Planning Officer reported that the following documents had accompanied the application; Planning Statement/Design & Access Statement, Flood Risk Assessment & Drainage , Habitat Regulations Assessment, Indicative Plans & elevations & Preliminary Ecological Assessment (received 27/07/20). It had now been confirmed by the County that a Transport Statement was not required since the details of the junction geometry had been provided.
The Planning Officer reported that the Parish Council and several local residents had objected to the development (as detailed on page 40 of the report). The Planning Officer informed the Committee that it might be possible that suitable materials might be extracted for use on site and a mineral investigation condition had been requested by Norfolk County Council. If the application was approved, prior to the first reserved matters application being submitted, a newt survey would be required as part of the application process as a single newt was found during a previous survey undertaken in 2017.
The Planning Officer reported that the application was recommended for approval subject to s106 affordable housing and conditions detailed in the report.
Councillor A Wright voiced his displeasure that the application site was Grade 1 Agricultural Land and asked for clarification as to whether Ormesby St Margaret had a Neighbourhood Plan in progress/place.
Councillor Myers asked for clarification regarding the suitability of access to the site via Station Road for the delivery of building material via heavy goods vehicles.
Councillor Freeman asked for clarification regarding the drainage strategy for the site. The Planning Officer reported that the Lead Local Flood Authority were happy with the proposed drainage scheme.
Ms Kothari, Mr Roberts, Mr Sparkes, Mrs McKay & Mrs Anderson, who were local residents and objected to the proposal addressed the Committee and strongly urged them to refuse the application on the grounds of unsuitable vehicular access, loss of wildlife habitat, over-development, parking issues, an unacceptable increase in the number of vehicular movements in and out of the development, loss of privacy, over-looking, light and noise pollution and flooding concerns.
Councillor Freeman, Parish Councillor & Ward Councillor addressed the Committee and reiterated the concerns of the residents to the application. He was concerned that vital information was being reported to the Committee at the meeting and that this was not fair to the local community who did not have all the necessary information to hand to assist them in making an informed planning decision which would affect their village and asked that the application be deferred to allow it to be fully reassessed.
Councillor A Wight reiterated his concern regarding the loss of Grade 1 Agricultural Land. Councillor P Hammond was concerned that the proposed site was not one of the identified development sites for Ormesby in the Local Plan.
Councillor Wainwright reported that it would be difficult for the Committee to refuse the application as the Council did not have a five year housing land supply and he was disappointed that the proposal did not contain any 2 bedroom starter homes to assist young people to get on the housing ladder in the northern parishes. He suggested that a condition should be added to ensure that the build out of the permission, if granted, would commence within the next two years.
The Planning Manager reported that a condition regarding the build out time could be conditioned with the reserved matters application submission time reduced to one year. However, if Members were minded to refuse the application, he would rather the application be deferred to allow officers time to assess whether an alternative access to the site was possible for construction vehicles and if not, to seek sustainable grounds for refusal.
Councillor Freeman reported that Ormesby St Margaret was in the process of working up a Neighbourhood Plan and that the Parish Council welcomed good applications resulting in quality developments for its residents and that he would support the Planning Manager's request for a deferral of the application. This motion was proposed by Councillor Myers seconded by Councillor P Hammond.
Following a vote on the motion that the application be deferred, it was RESOLVED:-
That application number 06/20/0156/O be deferred.