YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY ITEM 5(a)

Committee: PLANNING Date: 9 April 2019

Report: REFERENCE BACK: Full planning permission for change of use and conversion of church and Sunday School (use Class D1) to three apartments and two cottages for holiday let accommodation (Use Class C3) Methodist Church, Main Street, Hawes. (Ref. R/56/498)

Purpose of the report

1. To provide further advice on Members’ decision to defer consideration of the above application at Hawes Methodist Church, Main Street, Hawes.

Background

2. At the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 12 March 2019, Members decided to defer consideration of the above application as they were minded to refuse the application contrary to officer recommendation. A copy of the report from that meeting is attached for information.

3. The reasons given by Members for that decision were that the proposed development was inappropriate in terms of:

1. It is an overdevelopment of the site;

2. A detrimental impact on the amenity of local residents;

3. A lack of proper parking provision contravening policy SP4

Analysis of reasons

4. Members are reminded that Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 provides that decisions on planning applications must be taken in accordance with the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This is a presumption in favour of the Development Plan which in this case is the Dales Local Plan (2015-2030). The Development Plan is the starting point and must be followed unless there is good reason not to.

5. In considering a planning application Members should therefore firstly form a clear judgement as to whether the proposal accords with the development plan. If it does not, they should then consider whether there are any material considerations of sufficient weight to justify a departure from the Development Plan.

6. For matters to be ‘material considerations’ they must be genuine planning matters (relating to the use and development of land) and fairly and reasonably related to the development concerned. Personal circumstances can be material considerations but only in exceptional or special circumstances.

7. The Local Plan needs to be read as a whole. The strategic policies SP1 (Sustainable development), and SP4 (Development Quality) are relevant as are policies L1, L2 and L3 that concern proposals for the conversion of traditional buildings. Members are advised to read the full version of these policies in the Local Plan.

Reason 1) It is an overdevelopment of the site.

8. Members consider that the conversion of the former Methodist Church to three apartments and two cottages for holiday let accommodation would be an overdevelopment of the site. ‘Overdevelopment’ is a planning concept that relates to the amount of development proposed and whether that amount is appropriate for the site. Proposals are generally considered to be overdevelopment where they would result in harmful impacts arising from the inability of the site to accommodate the amount of development proposed.

9. The proposals to convert the existing Church and Sunday School buildings do not involve any extensions to the buildings or the insertion of additional floor levels to the two that already exist. The building has a very limited amount of private external space and no off-road parking of its own. External space is generally required for a residential use in order to provide useable space for refuse/recycling, garden/amenity space, and domestic storage (eg. bicycles etc).

10. The external areas are limited to a small rear yard and two passages, one either side of the main frontage. The passage to the western side of the church is inaccessible due to its narrowness and front railings. The passage to the eastern side has to be kept clear as a neighbouring resident has a right of a