Agenda item

(Copy Herewith)

The Principal Planning Officer submitted a report on behalf of the Head of Planning and elaborated thereon. The Committee were informed that outline planning permission had been granted for the erection of up to 170 dwellings. Subsequent to granting planning permission, a new application was submitted to develop a new school on the north eastern portion of the site. This was approved in principle by the Committee in September 2016, subject to the completion of the S106 Legal Agreement.

The Principal Planning Officer stated that this application was seeking full planning permission for the erection of 82 dwellings, comprising 4 two bedroom flats, 47 two bedroom houses and 31 three bedroom houses. In addition the proposal made provision for 146 parking spaces and a central open space area. As per the report this application was subject to the completion of a S106 agreement.

Matthew Moore, on behalf of the applicant, addressed the Committee in support of the application. He stated that extensive consultation had taken place with local residents and other consultees. Planning application had already been approved in 2014 for 170 dwellings, which was far more than the current application. This development was aimed at local residents and a number of houses were to be a part of the Government’s Help To Buy scheme for first time buyers. In addition the proposal contained lots of open spaces and took account of national and local planning policies.

In response to questions from Members Matthew Moore made a number of comments including:

·         All properties were to be built from timber frame, making them more energy efficient. At the current time there were no plans to look at solar panels.

·         There were no plans to include electric car charging points within the development.

·         In addition to aiming the development at first time buyers, 35% of the properties would be affordable housing.

·         With regards to the access roads to the site, as this was to come off a residential road, there was not much the developers could do to widen the road.

Members of the Committee welcomed the application and commented that it was good to see affordable housing being provided and that there was a lot of open space.

RESOLVED:

That the APPLICATION be approved in principle subject to the S106 Agreement to secure:

i)          35% on-site affordable housing;

ii)         Primary School Education payment;

iii)        A payment towards improvements in highway capacity;

iv)        A payment towards bus stop provision;

v)         That the on-site Public Open Space is maintained and made available for public access in perpetuity;

vi)        A payment towards health care provision;

vii)       A payment towards the provision and/or enhancement and/or maintenance of off-site open space; and

viii)      The Council’s monitoring fee, subject to the Head of Planning being satisfied the monitoring fee is necessary and of an appropriate scale.

and the conditions as set out in the report and for the following reason:

The proposed development, subject to conditions, represents an acceptable land use which would contribute towards the Council’s five year housing supply and would have a neutral impact upon the character and appearance of the surrounding area, visual and neighbour amenity and the highway system. The development is therefore in conformity with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework, Policies S1, S3, S10, H1, H2 and BN7 of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy and Policy E20 of the Northampton Local Plan.

It is also recommended that in the event of the Section 106 Legal Agreement not being completed within three calendar months of this Committee meeting, in addition to being able to grant planning permission as recommended above, the Head of Planning be given delegated authority to either refuse or finally dispose of the application (at his discretion) on account that the necessary mitigation measures have not been secured in order to make the proposal acceptable in line with the requirements of Policies INF1 and INF2 of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy and the National Planning Policy Framework.