Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 REPORT SUMMARY REFERENCE NO
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Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 REPORT SUMMARY REFERENCE NO - 17/00795/FULL APPLICATION PROPOSAL Demolition of four derelict agricultural buildings and construction of four detached dwellings with associated parking, landscaping and access from Hartley Road ADDRESS Agricultural Buildings Hartley Road Cranbrook Kent RECOMMENDATION – Refuse (See Section 11 for the full recommendation) SUMMARY OF REASONS FOR REFUSAL - In the absence of a 5 year housing land supply the housing provision policies are considered to be out-of-date. Paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires that permission for sustainable development be granted unless “specific policies in this Framework indicate that development should be resisted”. The footnote to para 14 includes those policies related to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). - The proposal is not considered to be sustainable development, and is considered to be harmful to the AONB. - There are objections in highway safety terms to matters arising from the intensified use of the access onto a primary route - The application is recommended for refusal on four grounds: - 1. The proposal is not considered to be sustainable development and, due to the harm it would cause to the AONB the NPPF indicates that development should be restricted. - 2. The proposal would intensify the use of an access onto a primary route with insufficient visibility, spacing between junctions and pedestrian footway provision. Proposal fails to demonstrate the provision of a safe and suitable access. - 3. Insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposal would not be harmful to protected species. - 4. Insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposal would not be harmful to important trees. - All other material considerations have been taken in to account and are not considered to outweigh the identified harm that the proposal would cause. INFORMATION ABOUT FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF PROPOSAL The following are considered to be material to the application: Contributions (to be secured through Section 106 legal agreement/unilateral undertaking): N/A Net increase in numbers of jobs: N/A Estimated average annual workplace salary spend in Borough through net increase in numbers of jobs: N/A The following are not considered to be material to the application: Estimated annual council tax benefit for Borough: £654.40 Estimated annual council tax benefit total: £6,544.00 Annual New Homes Bonus (for first 4 years): £4,000.00 Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 Estimated annual business rates benefits for Borough: NA REASON FOR REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE Called in by Councillor Holden on the following grounds: Material Planning Grounds: The fact that the site is outside the current Limits to Built Development and in the AONB; The impact on the character and appearance of this prominent site and surrounding area; The suitability of the access to serve the proposal and highway safety issues. Reason that warrants discussion at Committee are: The context of the site, particularly at the access point. WARD Benenden & PARISH/TOWN COUNCIL APPLICANT Mr John Wickham Cranbrook Cranbrook & Sissinghurst AGENT BTL Design Parish Council DECISION DUE DATE PUBLICITY EXPIRY DATE OFFICER SITE VISIT DATE 29/08/17 03/11/17 05/04/17 RELEVANT PLANNING HISTORY (including appeals and relevant history on adjoining sites): None MAIN REPORT 1.0 DESCRIPTION OF SITE 1.01 This site stands within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and outside the Limit to Built Development (LBD) of Cranbrook. It is at the edge of Hartley, located some way away from the main groups of dwellings on either side of Hartley Road that could be considered to comprise the core of this substantial group of houses outside the LBD and thus, for current policy purposes, is considered as being within the open countryside. 1.02 The application site measures some 0.23 hectares and is served by an existing access track through a gateway set back from the carriageway across a paved apron. The length of the access route is about 30 metres before it enters the site proper. The access point onto Hartley Road is about 45m north of its junction with Glassenbury Road, B.2085, and 90m south of its junction with Swattenden Lane. Hartley Road in the vicinity of the site is subject to a 40 mph speed limit. There is no footway on the site side of Hartley Road with one on the opposite side that runs to Cranbrook. The site adjoins Glassenbury Road on its west boundary where there are a number of roadside mature trees on a low roadside bank and verge. The Bull Farm complex of agricultural buildings is on the other side of Glassenbury Road which now includes dwellings formed from converted farm buildings as well as the original farmhouse together with commercial uses. Adjoining the site to the north and east are paddocks with Hartley Gate Farmhouse some 50m distant. 1.03 The site is currently occupied by the remains of a group of four agricultural buildings which are in various stages of dereliction. There is no discernible yard area as such with the space around and between these structures having reverted to grass. This Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 links to the land to the east and north, also down to grass, and there is little demarcation between the group of buildings and the surrounding paddocks. 2.0 PROPOSAL 2.01 The proposal is to clear away the remains of the existing buildings and erect four new dwellings in locations that approximate to the positions of the existing structures around a central vehicle circulation area, with the access route to Hartley Road consolidated and, in part, widened to accommodate passing vehicles. The access is wide enough to accommodate pedestrians. The proposals comprise a one-bed, a two-bed, a three-bed and a four-bed unit, each having a simple gable ended profile, two having lower eaves on their rear elevations creating a catslide roof. Accommodation is provided in or partly within the roofspaces. Finishing materials include both grey slate roof tiles and black horizontal weatherboarding above brick plinths on Units 1 and 4, and profiled metal roof sheeting finished in grey and vertical timber boarding above brick or block plinths on Units 2 and 3. UPVC/aluminium/timber windows are specified with UPVC and conservation style rooflights. Externally, modest areas of curtilage are formed from the adjoining paddocks with either hedged or fenced boundaries indicated. Each plot has open parking accessed from the common circulation space. 2.02 Visibility splays at the access are shown as 58 metres in both directions with the one to the south extending beyond the Glassenbury Road junction. There is no footway here along the site side of Hartley Road. Details have also been added showing the position of trees along the Glassenbury Road frontage. 2.03 The application is supported by a Planning, Design and Access Statement, updated since first submission to take account of KCC Highways comments and for clarification in respect to distances from the site to local bus stops. Further comments made by KCC Highways have been addressed by an Access Technical Note. 2.04 When originally submitted the site was shown with a new access onto Glassenbury Road but this has since been amended to use the existing access from Hartley Road. 3.0 SUMMARY INFORMATION Existing Proposed Change (+/-) Site Area 0.23 ha Land use(s) including floor area(s) Agriculture Residential Car parking spaces (inc. disabled) Nil 9 +9 No. of storeys Single 1.5 – 2.0 Max height Not known 6.6m n/a Max eaves height Not known 4.6m n/a No. of residential units 0 4 +4 Sizes of units: 1 bedroom n/a 1 +1 2 bedroom 1 +1 Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 3 bedroom 1 +1 4 bedroom 1 +1 No. of affordable units 0 0 n/a 4.0 PLANNING CONSTRAINTS Agricultural Land Classification Grade 3 (This information is taken from the MAFF 1998 national survey series at 1:250 000 scale derived from the Provisional 1” to one mile ALC maps and is intended for strategic uses. These maps are not sufficiently accurate for use in assessment of individual fields or sites and any enlargement could be misleading. The maps show Grades 1-5, but grade 3 is not subdivided Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty AONB (statutory protection in order to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of their landscapes - National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 & Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000) Outside Limits to Built Development (LBD) Grade II Listed Hartley Gate Farmhouse (approximately 47 metres to the east) Grade II Listed Bull Farm House (approximately 36 metres to the south west) Grade II Listed Bull Farm Barn 25 metres to the west) Robin Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) approximately 300 metres to the south east of the site 5.0 POLICY AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF): National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG): Site Allocations Local Plan July 2016 Policy AL/STR1 - Limits to Built Development Tunbridge Wells Borough Core Strategy 2010 Core Policy 1 - Delivery of Development Core Policy 4 - Environment Core Policy 5 - Sustainable Design and Construction Core Policy 6 - Housing Provision Core Policy 14 - Development in the Villages and Rural Areas Tunbridge Wells Borough Local Plan 2006 Policy LBD1 – Development Outside Limits to Built Development Policy EN1 – Design and Other Development Control Criteria Policy EN25 – The Rural Landscape Policy TP4 – Access to the Road Network Policy TP5 – Parking Standards Supplementary Planning Documents: Borough Landscape Character Area Assessment 2002 – Character Area 4: Cranbrook Fruit Belt Planning Committee Report 14 February 2018 TWBC Farmstead Assessment Guidance February 2016 Other relevant documents High Weald AONB Management Plan 3rd edition 2014-2019 Legislation and Planning Policy in the High Weald AONB October 2016 6.0 LOCAL REPRESENTATIONS Site notices have been displayed at the access gate on Hartley Road and on the Glassenbury Road frontage.