Change of Use to Offices and Alterations at the Old School
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FULL PLANNING APPLICATION FOR EXTENSION TO EXISTING STATIC CARAVAN PARK FOR ELEVEN ADDITIONAL CHALETS AT TAN Y BRYN CARAVAN PARK, BRYN PYDEW ROAD, BRYN PYDEW, LL 31 9JH. Design and Access Supporting Statement Peter Jones-Hughes MRTPI;MIHBC. 9/26/2016 This statement is required in accordance with Planning Regulations to support applications. The contents assist in identifying the primary planning issues of the proposal and the site and explain the development of the design of proposals for an extension to the existing static caravan park and how landscape and other planning interests are to be safeguarded. Contents Page 3 - Background Page 4- Introduction Page 5 - The Proposals Page 6- Planning History Page 6 - Current Planning Policies and Guidance Page 13 - Description of the Site and Surroundings Page14 - Adopted Concept and Principles Applied to the Proposal Page15 - How the Proposal Complies with the Adopted Concept, Principles and Policies Page 15 - Character, Scale and Layout Page 15 -Landscape Impact Page 19 - Biodiversity Impact Page 22 - Movement to and from the Site Page 26 - Environmental Sustainability Page 26 - Water Quality and Drainage Page 26 - Archaeological Impact Page 27 - Impact on Amenities Page 27 - Hard Rock Reserves Page 27 - Summary 2 Background The submission of Design and Access Statements to accompany certain planning applications became mandatory in Wales from 2009. From the 16thMarch 2016 the Town and Country Planning (General Development Management Procedure) (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2016 only requires the submission of a Design and Access Statement for major development planning applications or for proposals within some designated sites. The guidance contained in Technical Advice Note 12: Guidance on Design and Access Statements has also been followed. Following consultations at pre-application stage with the LPA and other potential consultees this supporting statement has been prepared to appraise and assess the final proposed schemes where material planning considerations have been identified. In this instance pre-application consultations have been carried out with: Conwy County Borough Council Ecology, Planning - Management, Policy and Highways; Cadw; Natural Resources Wales and the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust. These discussions have indicated that the scope of the supporting statement should cover potential impacts, mitigation and enhancement measures for biodiversity, visual landscape, archaeology and highway factors. A supporting statement is a communication tool to show how good design has been integrated into the formulation of the proposed development. The Regulations emphasise that the principle of proportionality should apply in relation to the nature and level of detail required by a DAS. The information provided in a statement should be proportional to the importance of the site/asset in question and the nature and complexity of the impacts f the proposed scheme. The purpose of this statement is to identify potential issues arising from proposals in relation to the constraints and opportunities presented by current planning policies, conservation interests, access/movement and environmental sustainability guidelines. In this case the appraisal has assisted in achieving an understanding of the particular landscape impact and biodiversity context of the application site and other planning considerations such as highway and access considerations. This understanding has in turn informed and influenced the design of the eventual scheme presented for Local Planning Authority (LPA) consideration. 3 The proposal has been considered in relation to the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations and current guidance contained in Welsh Circular 11/99. It is appreciated that the Local Planning authority (LPA) will undertake its own scoping opinion of the application, but the proposal and application site have been assessed and are not considered to meet the selection criteria listed in the 1999 Regulations. Introduction Tan y Bryn Caravan Park was established in 1972 by the Hughes family and is still a local family based business. The park was originally implemented close to the family farmstead to diversify and broaden their business and has expanded in two phases up to the present day. Although the applicant still farms the remainder of the land by keeping a small herd of cattle, he acknowledges that farming the land would not be viable without the added income provided by the caravan park. The existing park is immaculately kept and managed and is well assimilated into the local landscape with good road links. The present caravan park is relatively tightly developed with 24 static caravans stationed within a relatively confined area next to the former Tan y Bryn farmhouse. The applicant has commissioned the application in order to create a small additional number of attractive holiday units in a much more spacious layout. This development will enable the family business to grow over the next thirty years. The management and control of the existing caravan site has been refined over the years to maintain a high standard of environment and accommodation. This has resulted in a low turnover of unit occupiers with a settled clientele. The applicant has confirmed that one couple have leased their pitch for over 44 years. The present conditions attached to caravan unit agreements prohibit sub-letting and limit occupation of units to ten and a half months in any year is. Additionally unit owners must renew their caravans after seventeen years on site. These conditions are scrupulously applied and monitored. The applicant plans to continue this management approach with the extended site but with an improved layout that will not adversely affect his existing visitors. The present caravan park enterprise employs one full time and one part time worker. The plan is to increase the number of people engaged in the enterprise by an additional full time employee if planning permission is granted for the proposed extension. The present proposal is to sensitively extend the existing static caravan site with an attractive and more spacious arrangement of high quality lodge type 4 accommodation units. The number of new units proposed is less than half the number of existing statics and this represents an increase in units of approximately 45%. The density of the new lodge units will also be significantly lower than that of the existing park. The Proposals The application site measures about one hectare in area and the application proposal is to create a high quality eleven unit extension directly to the north east of the existing static caravan site that will sit sensitively in the local landscape. The proposed holiday units will be attractive units of contemporary design and materials. Each unit will be a maximum of 6.00 metres wide by 12.00 metres long and will provide approximately 70.00 square metres of holiday floor space. The design, appearance and layout of the units take account of the topography of the area and viewpoints of the site. The scale of the units reflects the objective of the application to minimise the impact of the development in this distinctive local landscape. As the new holiday units will be serviced by existing park facilities no new communal buildings are proposed for the application site. The proposed holiday accommodation units will be stationed on permeable bases that require the minimum of ground re-modelling and the proposed drive and chalet layout take advantage of the level ground between the gentle banks that generally run from east to west across the application site. The units are to be located in a much lower density arrangement with units spaced between 8.00 and 14.00 metres apart. This compares with an average separation distance of 5.00 metres for the existing caravan park. The new access drive to serve the units will be 5.00 metre wide and will have a permeable compacted surface and will incorporate individual parking spaces for chalet occupiers. The proposed drive within the extension site has been designed to complement the contours of the land and will not require any significant ground re-modelling. From the north the access drive will be unobtrusive as it utilises the existing banks that cut across the site to obscure views. The highway access to the proposed extension of the caravan park will be via the existing 4.00 metre wide metalled private lane of the existing caravan park to the improved junction of the Bryn Pydew Road. There are proposals to alter the junction of the access drive with the public highway by improving the visibility splay to the east when leaving the site. By incorporating this enhancement in the application proposals the junction with the highway is 5 considered to be capable of serving the traffic generated by the proposed extension. The Movement section of this statement describes pre-application work carried out to assess the usage of the present site and a forecast of the likely future journeys if the application is approved. The low volumes of traffic using the Bryn Pydew Road at peak daily times have also been monitored. Landscaping proposals are based upon the natural vegetation and tree cover pattern of the open countryside in the locality. Tree and other planting of indigenous species is proposed in groups to break up the visual impact of the chalets and a new hedgerow is to be planted along the north, east and elevated southern boundaries of the application site. These proposals are designed to also have a biodiversity benefit as well as landscape impact mitigation benefits. A biodiversity statement accompanies the application and this demonstrates that the development of the application site will not harm the nature conservation interest of the site itself and its adjacent areas. The proposal also includes enhancements to the landscape within the applicant’s wider ownership that will benefit biodiversity of the locality in the future. There are photographs of the existing caravan park and the application site in Appendix 1 of this statement.