Agenda item

Proposed Development

Outline application, with all matters reserved except access, for the erection of up to 43 dwellings together with associated works following demolition of existing equestrian buildings (revision of WA/2014/2028) at Land At Baker Oates Stables, Gardeners Hill Road, Wrecclesham

Recommendation

That permission be GRANTED subject to the applicant entering into a legal agreement to secure 40% affordable housing and financial contributions towards secondary education, playing pitches, highways improvements, the setting up of a Management Company for the management of the open space and the LAP and the setting up of a Management Company for the management of the SUDS; a S278 agreement with the County Highway Authority to secure the creation of a gateway feature, revisions to the road marking regime including a coloured surface strip to manage vehicle speeds and give pedestrians and cyclists more space, improvements to the junction of Gardeners Hill Road with Boundstone Road and Sandrock Hill Road, improvements to the junction of Gardeners Hill Road and Longdown Road and updated bus stop infrastructure to closest bus stops on Boundstone Road and subject to the conditions and informatives noted in the agenda report.

Proposed development

Outline application, with all matters reserved except access, for the erection of up to 43 dwellings together with associated works following demolition of existing equestrian buildings (revision of WA/2014/2028) (as amended by details received 31/03/2015 & 06/05/2015) at  Land At Baker Oates Stables, Gardeners Hill Road,  Wrecclesham

The Chairman introduced the Officers present and referred Members to the proposed order of business for the meeting.

With reference to the report circulated with the agenda, Officers presented a summary of the planning history of the site, and the current plans and proposals. Officers showed pictures of the site and plans for the application. Officers outlined the matters of principle/technical judgement and those matters of judgement and advised members of information received following the agenda being published and detailed in the update sheet. This included the applicants agreeing to provide an additional contribution towards recycling containers, a response from the Council’s Flood Risk Consultants. Furthermore, there were 59 additional letters of representation but these had not raised any new material considerations.

Officers advised the Committee that the application was for outline planning permission with all matters reserved except for means of access and reminded Members that the NPPF required that the benefits of the scheme needed to be balanced against any negative aspects of the scheme. Officers advised that although their preference was that previously developed land would be developed prior to green field sites, the Council could not currently identify a deliverable supply of housing sites from the identified sites which would sufficiently meet the housing demand for the next five years. The site was not located within the AONB or the AGLV and officers felt that the site would result in the loss of alienation of the best and most versatile agricultural land. It was recognised that the scheme would result in an increase in traffic movements, however, the officers highlighted the responses from the County Highway Authority that concluded that the access and highway improvements put forward would go beyond what was necessary to accommodate the increase in traffic. In conclusion and on-balance, the Officers were recommending that the scheme should be approved subject to a number of conditions and informatives as detailed in the update sheet.

Following the officers presentation and before the Committee debated the application, in accordance with the guidance for public participation at meetings, each party was given the opportunity to speak for up to 5 minutes. The following people spoke to the application:

Richard Walker - Objector

Cllr John Ward – Farnham Town Council

Asher Ross - Applicant/Agent

Councillor Wyatt Ramsdale, the Ward Councillor for the application also spoke on the application for up to 4minutes.

Having heard the officers’ presentation as well as the representations from the objectors and the applicant and supporter, Members were invited to ask any further questions or to seek clarification on areas of concern from the officers.

The Committee compared the current proposal with the previous refused scheme (WA/2014/2028) and asked for clarification on what changes had been made. members were advised that the applicants had tried to address previous refusal grounds by increasing the provision of affordable housing from 32.5% to 40, the housing mix had been amended, there was an additional ecological survey carried out and supporting information provided in relation to the impact on the countryside and the applicants had agreed to enter in a legal agreement to secure final contributions.

The Committee noted that the Highway Authority had commissioned an independent safety audit of the proposed highway works. This had recommended a number of improvements, furthermore, the applicants would be implementing a highway improvement scheme to improve the walking environment on Gardeners Hill road, where interaction between pedestrians and vehicles in the carriageway already occurred. Members considered the proposals and were extremely concerned that the improvements proposed would not go far enough to protect the safety of pedestrians on Gardeners Hill Road. In particular, the green advisory pedestrian strip with associated road markings and signage was considered to be dangerous for people walking on the lane. Although the five year collision data along Gardeners Hill Road showed that there had not been any collisions which involved pedestrians, it was felt that this was because it was already a non-safe walking environment so people rarely used this road to walk along and was a “rat-run” for traffic avoiding the main road through the Bourne and the 30mph speed signs would not go far enough on a road which was particularly dangerous with a number of access points.

The Committee reviewed the reasons for refusal under the previous scheme WA/2014/2028 and did not feel that the applicants had adequately addressed these reasons, therefore, they agreed that the application should be refused. 

Decision

Resolved to REFUSE permission for the following reasons:

1.    The proposal, by virtue of the number of dwellings, scale, urbanising impact and harm to the landscape character, would cause material and detrimental harm to the character and setting of the existing settlement and the intrinsic character, beauty and openness of the countryside contrary to Policies 17 and 118 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012. The adverse impact would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the proposal when assessed against the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012 taken as a whole.

2.    The proposal would amount to an unsustainable form of development as it would result in new isolated dwellings in the country side where no special circumstances exist to justify the proposal. The proposal would therefore fail to comply with the requirements of paragraphs 17 and 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012.

3.    The Council has strong concerns about the highway safety of the proposal and the applicant has failed to enter into an appropriate legal agreement to secure a programme of highway improvement works to mitigate the impact of traffic generated by the development, as such the proposal would fail to effectively limit the significant impacts of the development. Furthermore, the proposal would therefore fail to improve accessibility to the site by non-car modes of travel. The application therefore fails to meet the transport requirements f the National Planning  Policy Framework 2012 and Policies M2 and M14 of the Waverley Borough Local Plan 2002.

4.    The applicant has failed to enter into an appropriate legal agreement to secure contributions towards secondary education, highways improvements, playing pitches and recycling containers and therefore the proposal conflicts with Policies D13 and D14 of the Waverley Borough Local Plan 2002.