December Development Control Meeting
Although I normally only rarely attend meeting of the development control committee, by chance I’ve substituted at the last two, with today been a slightly later start than the previous visit as all of the site visits were in Glossopdale which fitted well with the applications under consideration with 4 of the 6 applications under consideration been from Glossopdale.
First up for consideration was application HPK/2012/0573 for the redevelopment of Kingsmoor Leisure / Former School in Hadfield from its current usage to 14 residentially units of 1/2/3 bedrooms along with associated parking and amenity space.
Whilst I supported the principle of redeveloping this site in part because of its location, but also because the application intended to be a good reuse for the building, I wasn’t able to support the application as presented today because, part of the application proposed building an extension to the existing building on the Sailsbury Street side that would remove 6 parking spaces, which would further worsen existing parking problems.
As luck would happen the rest of the committee were of a similar mind with the application been refused by all members of the committee on the grounds of over development and the impact this would have on parking.
Next up was application HPK/2012/0432 for the conversion of the former Partington Nursing Home near Howard Park in Glossop for its current state to 5 residential units.
It was one of the sites visited earlier in the day and the proposal put forward by the developer sought permission to convert the building into 5 separate 4 bedroom units but without changing the exterior of the building along with retaining the features of the existing building such as the downspouts which include the year the building was finished.
In addition to the original report there was an update report released on Friday which included some further details around a bat survey. One concern raised was around parking with the developer only including 10 spaces but advising space available for more, there were also issues around knotweed and garden ‘fences’.
Once considered the ‘issues’ would be resolved by condition with the application once again having the whole of the committees support but this time in support of approving the application rather than rejecting it.
Next up was HPK/2012/0599 which was for a change of use for the former Woodward’s Coach Depot in Old Glossop from its current status to planning classification B2 and mobile caravan / vehicle storage.
This application raised a few concerns because the ‘B2’ classification relates to general industrial development which covers a whole variety of uses that could cause noise, pollution and traffic problems with very little detail on exactly what type of future use was been considered.
After consideration the application was refused, again by the whole of the committee with officers to also consider if any type of enforcement is needed for the current none coach depot useage.
A rare trip out of Glossopdale for this meeting was next up with application HPK/2012/0604 for the extension of an existing livery building to form 3 additional stables at the Bungalow on Owlgreave Farm in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
The application raised a comment that the number of times the site has appeared before development control was sufficient for it to be considered by some as a specialist subject on mastermind.
Concerns were expressed around noise issues from noisy horses, with the advice from officers been that the concerns could be dealt with via conditions which lead to the first split decision of the meeting with all but 2 of the committee approving the application.
Next was our final trip of the meeting for Glossopdale with application HPK/2012/0617 for the repairs to the Old Cross in Glossop, which would normally have been an officer delegated decision but as a council owned site has to go before the full committee.
The application which was supported by the whole of the committee for referral to the secretary of the state for final approval seeks to raise the whole structure, including the plinth to reveal the base plinth, repair accordingly and add some sort of explanatory plaque.
Last up in terms of applications was HPK/2012/0625 for a single story extension to a house in Dove Holes for a cloakroom / bathroom which again would have been officer delegated but for the application coming from a council employee.
After consideration, the application once again had the support of the whole committee for approval.
Finally the meeting considered an update report on the performance of the council on planning appeals which included an update on new appeals lodged along with some decisions received including the Cowdale Quarry application from Buxton that was refused by the committee back in June 2011 and finally rejected by the planning inspectorate following a public enquiry this year.
Alas I won’t make it three in a row on development control as I’m away elsewhere for the next meeting.
