Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made at this meeting.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Planning Regulatory Board held on Thursday, 28th January, 2016, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

There were no site visits nor deferments recommended.

Further to Minute No. 78(2) of the meeting of the Planning Board held on 28th January, 2016, Members of the Board made a visit of inspection to the above site, the subject of this application. (Ward representatives Councillors Buckley and Roddison were also in attendance).

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Culture concerning the application for outline planning permission for the erection of up to 64 dwellinghouses with details of access at land at Blue Mans Way, Catcliffe for Langtree Group plc (RB2014/1342).

In accordance with the right to speak procedure, the following people attended the meeting and spoke about this application:-

Mr. D. Rolinson (on behalf of the applicant Company)

Mr. N. Howarth (objector)

Mrs. G. Peter (objector)

Mr. D. Key (objector)

Councillor A. Roddison (Ward representative, opposing the development)

Resolved:- That application RB2014/1342 be refused for the reasons set out in the submitted report.

Resolved:- (1) That, on the development proposals now considered the requisite notices be issued and be made available on the Council’s website and that the time limits specified in Sections 91 and 92 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 apply.

In accordance with the right to speak procedure, the following people attended the meeting and spoke about the application listed below:-

- Extension to existing day care nursery and temporary siting and use of portable classroom at Railway Children Day Care Nursery, Wood Lane, Treeton for Mr. R. Saddiq (RB2015/1422)

Mr. A. Spratt (on behalf of the applicant)

- Conversion of barn to dwelling (Use Class C3) at The Barn, Dalton Lane, Dalton for Mr. G. Thacker (RB2015/1425)

Mr. J. Wright (objector)

Mrs. C. Guest (objector)

Mr. D. Brown (objector)

(2) That application RB2015/1422 be granted for the reasons adopted by Members at the meeting and subject to the relevant conditions listed in the submitted report.

(3)(a) That, with regard to application RB2015/1425, the Council shall enter into a Legal Agreement with the developer under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to secure that the building shall remain in the applicant’s ownership for a minimum period of five years following the grant of planning permission, otherwise a £10,000 affordable housing contribution becomes payable;  and

(b) That, subject to the signing of the Section 106 Legal Agreement, planning permission be granted for the proposed development subject to the conditions set out in the submitted report.

The Director of Planning, Regeneration and Culture submitted a report concerning the courtesy consultation from Doncaster MBC in respect of the application for planning permission for the erection of a 48.01 metres high wind turbine and associated infrastructure at Conisbrough Grange Farm, Common Lane, Ravenfield (and situated within the Doncaster Borough area).

The report stated that the type of turbine had not been stipulated and the applicant was proposing a condition that would require the exact details of the turbine to be considered after the application had been determined, to provide the most efficient turbine at the time. As the type of turbine had not been stipulated, no information had been submitted about the exact colour of the turbine or the hub height. Neither had any details been provided of the exact appearance of the wind turbine, nor its operational electricity generating capacity. The proposal also included a turbine foundation and a hardstanding area for erecting a crane, access tracks and a small external turbine transformer meter housing.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That Doncaster MBC be informed that this Council raises objections to the proposals in relation to the lack of information available to demonstrate clearly the impact on the local landscape or on heritage assets within the Rotherham Borough area, close to the application site.

The Director of Planning, Regeneration and Culture submitted a report concerning the courtesy consultation from Doncaster MBC in respect of the application for planning permission for the erection of one wind turbine (maximum height 36.6 metres) to replace existing at land adjacent to Ridgewood farm, Cockhill Field Lane, Braithwell, Doncaster (RB2015/1092). The report stated that the application is for a replacement of the existing broken wind turbine on the site which Doncaster MBC had previously approved under a planning permission in 2009. The proposed new wind turbine would increase the hub height to 25.5 metres and the rotor tip height of 36.6 metres, approximately 40% taller than the existing wind turbine. It was noted that the correct highway route of the components to the application site had not yet been submitted to this Council for consideration.

Members concluded that there would be no material unacceptable adverse impacts on the visual and residential amenities of residents within the Rotherham Borough area, arising from this proposal, or that it would create any highway safety issues.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That Doncaster MBC be informed that, whilst this Council has no objections to this application for planning permission, this Council requests details of the actual route for delivering the wind turbine components to the application site, for further consideration.

Further to Minute No. 47(3) of the meeting of the Planning Board held on 8th October, 2015, consideration was given to a report of the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Culture detailing the current performance of the Development Management Team, after the health check undertaken during October 2015 by the Local Government Association, as required by the Government-appointed Inspectors. The report highlighted:-

(a) this Council’s Development Management Service is currently within the top ten highest performing local authorities in England (source : analysis by the Planning Advisory Service of statistical information provided by local authorities);

(b) the likelihood of the introduction of planning fee refunds, should applications for planning permission not be determined within twenty-six weeks, as part of the Central Government’s further planning reforms; and

(c) the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill includes provision of the processing of applications for planning permission to be undertaken within a competitive environment (eg: by neighbouring local authorities and by private sector companies), although the decision-making aspect is to remain with the Local Planning Authority.

Members of the Planning Board placed on record their appreciation of the work of the Development Management Team. It was noted that performance reports will be submitted to future meetings of the Planning Board at regular intervals.

Resolved:- That the report be received and its contents noted.

Members were reminded of the arrangements for a training session about planning and development issues to be held at the Town Hall, Rotherham, on Thursday afternoon, 18^th February, 2016.