Residential Development of up to 160 Dwellings with All Matters Reserved Except For
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AGENDA ITEM NO. OUTLINE APPLICATION – RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF UP TO 160 DWELLINGS WITH ALL MATTERS RESERVED EXCEPT FOR ACCESS (MAJOR DEVELOPMENT) (DEPARTURE FROM DEVELOPMENT PLAN) LAND OFF MANSFIELD ROAD, WINSICK, CHESTERFIELD (NEDDC REFERENCE 12/00306/OL) (P820) MEETING: PLANNING COMMITTEE DATE: 23rd JULY 2012 REPORT BY: SENIOR PLANNER, FORWARD PLANNING WARD: ADJACENT TO HASLAND COMMUNITY FORUM: ADJACENT TO HASLAND AND ST. LEONARDS BACKGROUND PAPERS FOR PUBLIC REPORTS TITLE LOCATION Consultation Letter from NEDDC Development Management Directorate of Regeneration Town Hall Chesterfield All details of the application can be viewed by following the link below http://planapps-online.ne-derbyshire.gov.uk/online-applications/ and then inputting the application reference number and following the links. 1.0 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT 1.1 To consider the Council’s response to a major application for housing located on land in North East Derbyshire District at Winsick and to the south of Hasland. 2.0 THE PROPOSAL 2.1 The proposal is in outline for a residential development of up to 160 dwellings with all matters reserved except for access. The applicant is Hallam Land Management Ltd. The site includes 2.6 acres of land owned by the borough council. Detailed discussions regarding any possible disposal of this land have been deferred until the outcome of the planning application is known. 2.2 The site is Greenfield and lies to the south east of the public sector housing within Chesterfield Borough along Gorse Valley Road. The site extends to some 8.99ha (around 22 acres).There are mature trees and hedgerows around the perimeter of the site, at varying intensity, but the main body of the site comprises rough grassland. It is urban fringe land, partially used for grazing horses, but largely unused and there are signs of urban trespass. 2.3 The application is illustrated by an indicative layout proposing the construction of up to 160 dwellings together with ancillary works, accessed from the recently constructed vehicular access to Gorse Valley Road (to the north) and Mansfield Road (to the south). The development is at a density of around 18 dwellings per hectare (or 7 dwellings per acre). Other elements of the proposals are: • The scheme comprises a mixed residential development with a range of density, type and size of dwelling, including 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom properties. • Affordable housing is proposed and is addressed more fully in the separate affordable Housing Statement. Details are to be the subject of negotiation with North East Derbyshire District • There would be pedestrian links and cycle paths to the north and west to provide integration with the adjoining settlement. • A significant proportion of the site would be laid out as greenspace. The formal recreational uses at the northern end of the site are complementary to land provided by Chesterfield Borough Council in the past for purposes of a playing field, but which has not yet been put into effect. 3.0 BACKGROUND 3.1 The proposed development is adjacent to a site for 55 affordable dwellings (application 04/1361/OL) which was approved on appeal in March 2006 (Appeal Reference APP/R1038/A/05/1182081). The applicants provided a unilateral undertaking which secured a method of providing all the development as affordable housing. This permission has not yet beem implemented. 3.2 The adjoining site (see Appendix C) owned by the applicant was also the subject of a planning application for housing but this was refused and no appeal was lodged. 4.0 PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS 4.1 The site is unallocated on the North East Derbyshire Local Plan adopted in 2005. 4.2 As noted above the adjacent site was approved on appeal for 100% affordable housing. A subsequent application for a further 51 dwellings was made in 2006 and the Borough Council objected to that application on the grounds that: • The proposal is contrary to policies set out in national and regional planning guidance and the Development Plan, which comprises the Structure Plan and the adopted NEDDC Local Plan since there are no special circumstances to justify the approval of an inappropriate development. • The approval of the development would prejudice the development of sequentially preferable housing sites allocated in the Chesterfield Borough Local Plan. That application was refused and no appeal was made. 4.3 Since that time the Borough Council has worked on producing a Core Strategy as part of its Local Development Framework. Background work on this included an assessment of various local centres including Hasland. As a result of this work the range of facilities provided in Hasland led to the conclusion that it was sufficiently well serviced with facilities to enable the Council to define it as a Local Service Centre. This suggests that further development in and around Hasland centre would be well served with the existing wide range of facilities. 4.4 The Core Strategy policy CS1 supports development close to local service centres. In relation to Hasland there a very few sites within the Borough that can be brought forward without harming open space including allotments or that would not be likely to give rise to unacceptable highway problems. 4.5 Since the previous application in 2006 the Regional Spatial Strategy was adopted in 2009. This reflects the government’s aim to encourage a step change in the provision of housing. Whilst the RSS is likely to be revoked in due course the government is still committed to the increased level of housing provision. 4.6 Accordingly the National Planning Policy Framework supports sustainably located development providing no significant harm is caused to acknowledged planning interests. The NPPF (para 47) requires local planning authorities to identify and annually update a five year supply of land for housing. Where this cannot be demonstrated the policies of the LPA are considered to be not up-to- date (para49). Where policies are out of date permission should be granted unless the adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the NPPF as a whole. 4.7 NEDDC has experienced a lack of a five year supply of housing land for a while and in March 2010 introduced an Interim Housing Policy. This policy provided the following criteria against which to decide planning applications for new housing development on land outside of Settlement Development Limits: a) the site should adjoin a Settlement Development Limit, and b) it should be well related to the built framework of the existing settlement, and c) it should not result in a prominent intrusion into the countryside, and d) it should not result in settlements merging, and, e) it should not cause harm to some other overriding policy objective. Proposals must also meet the purposes and objectives of PPS3 and Policy Northern SRS 1 of the East Midlands Regional Plan and be in line with the Council’s emerging Core Strategy once it has reached Preferred Options stage. 4.8 It is considered that the main issues for the Borough Council in relation to this application are: • Loss of open countryside • Traffic impact on Hasland centre • Impact of additional households on facilities in Hasland Loss of open countryside 4.9 The site is an area of open land between the edge of the built up area of Hasland and the A617 Hasland by- pass. It is not within the Green Belt area. It is located between the Gorse Valley Road development on the edge of the borough, a ribbon of development along Mansfield Road at Winsick and the Hasland by-pass as shown on the plan at appendix B. The development adjoins the existing built up area of Hasland and can be said to be well related to it. 4.10 Whilst it links development on Gorse Valley Road to the ribbon of development along Mansfield Road it would be difficult to argue that this involves the merging of two separate settlements. 4.11 The proposal would deliver additional housing in North East Derbyshire which would help to meet the current target in the East Midlands Regional Plan Spatial Strategy (RSS). However, the additional housing would help to meet the needs of households currently living or wishing to live in the Hasland area of Chesterfield. 4.12 Whilst the proposed development would infill the gap between existing housing and the Hasland by-pass, there is no doubt that in addition to the approved scheme for for affordable housing on the adjacent site, the proposed development would intrude into open countryside and result in a loss of countryside. Traffic Impact 4.13 It is noted that recent changes to the highway arrangements in the centre of Hasland have caused highway congestion. It is likely that the current application if approved would increase the traffic in the centre of Hasland. 4.14 Environmental Services has commented that the Borough Council undertakes little air quality monitoring in this area, and what monitoring is undertaken is targeted at the by-pass. Prior to the alterations carried out by DCC at the junction of Mansfield Road and The Green, traffic was fairly free-flowing, but the replacement of the previous roundabout with a traffic light controlled T junction has led to queuing traffic at busy times. 4.15 In order to properly monitor any increases in air pollution, should the application be approved, a sum of £9,100 should be requested to operate and analyse sufficient diffusion tubes in the area for a period of one year before the development and two years after it is completed. 4.16 The Highway Authority (HA) has made comments to NEDDC. The HA state that the comments do not relate to the internal layout as this is reserved for later approval.