HARROGATE BOROUGH COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE – AGENDA ITEM 6: LIST OF PLANS. DATE: 1 March 2016 PLAN: 09 CASE NUMBER: 15/05589/FUL GRID REF: EAST 436836 NORTH 476918 APPLICATION NO. 6.11.16.C.FUL DATE MADE VALID: 21.12.2015 TARGET DATE: 15.02.2016 REVISED TARGET: CASE OFFICER: Mr Andrew Moxon WARD: Wathvale VIEW PLANS AT: http://uniformonline.harrogate.gov.uk/online- applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NZIINYHYHVX00 APPLICANT: Oswald Potter Farms (Kirklington) Limited AGENT: Mr G Pitchford PROPOSAL: Erection of 1 dwelling with detached garage and formation of new access (Site Area 0.09 ha). LOCATION: Wide Howe Lane Baldersby St James Thirsk North Yorkshire YO7 4PT REPORT SITE AND PROPOSAL The application site comprises the corner of an agricultural field on the eastern edge of the small settlement of Baldersby St James. To the front of the site, adjacent to the highway, is a well-established hedgerow and roadside trees. To the west are a pair of semi-detached brick houses. These are presently the last houses in the village as you travel west towards Asenby. Baldersby St James is a very small settlement that was built as a model village in a very short period in the middle of the 19th century. The village is a designated conservation area and the application site abuts the boundary but is not within it. To the north east of the application site is a working farm called ‘The Brooms’. The landscape around Baldersby St James is generally flat and used primarily for agriculture and a mixture of livestock grazing and crop production. The proposal is for a detached dwelling on land presently in agricultural use adjacent to nos. 1 and 2 Kirklea, Wide Howe Lane. MAIN ISSUES 1. Policy 2. Design And Impact On Conservation Area 3. Impact On Neighbouring Residential Amenity 4. Impact On Highway Safety 5. Provision Of Open Space And Village Halls RELEVANT SITE HISTORY None CONSULTATIONS/NOTIFICATIONS Housing Department No objection. Historic England No objection. Victorian Society No comments received EHO Contaminated Land No objection subject to conditions. NYCC Highways And Transportation No objection subject to conditions. Principal Ecologist No comments received DCS Arboricultural Officer No comments received Parish Council Baldersby Parish Council. Estates Manager No objections. DCS - Open Space Commuted sum payment towards the provision of public open space and village halls calculated as: Open Space £1,415.79 Rainton with Newby Village Hall £2,123.56 RELEVANT PLANNING POLICY NPPF National Planning Policy Framework LPHD20 Harrogate District Local Plan (2001, as altered 2004) Policy HD20, Design of New Development and Redevelopment LPC02 Harrogate District Local Plan (2001, as altered 2004) Policy C2, Landscape Character CSSG3 Core Strategy Policy SG3 Settlement Growth: Conservation of the countryside, including Green Belt CSSG4 Core Strategy Policy SG4 Settlement Growth: Design and Impact CSEQ1 Core Strategy Policy EQ1: Reducing risks to the environment CSEQ2 Core Strategy Policy EQ2: The natural and built environment and green belt CSC1 Core Strategy Policy C1: Inclusive communities SPDHSE Supplementary Planning Document: House Extensions and Garages Design Guide SPGLAP Supplementary Planning Guidance, Landscape Character Assessment of Harrogate District SPDPVH Supplementary Planning Document, Provision for Village Halls in Connection with New Housing Development SPDPOS Supplementary Planning Document: Provision for Open Space in Connection with New Housing Development APPLICATION PUBLICITY SITE NOTICE EXPIRY: 25.01.2016 PRESS NOTICE EXPIRY: 11.02.2016 REPRESENTATIONS BALDERSBY PARISH COUNCIL objects to the proposal: The proposed development, which abuts the conservation area, will have a significant impact on the Conservation Status of Baldersby St James. This Conservation Status was approved on 16th November 2011 by the District Council following a protracted public consultation exercise involving specialists from the Conservation Area Department of the Council, the Parish Council and local residents from the Parish. The Parish Council continues to support the Conservation Status of Baldersby St James which has 18 listed buildings and has been described as a jewel in the crown of the Harrogate District. The Parish Council would strongly advise that The Victorian Society, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and English Heritage regarding Baldersby St James, before making any decision about this application. OTHER REPRESENTATIONS – None. VOLUNTARY NEIGHBOUR NOTIFICATION None undertaken. ASSESSMENT OF MAIN ISSUES 1. POLICY - The Strategic Housing Marketing Assessment takes as its starting point official population and household projections and then goes on to consider whether it is appropriate to make an upward adjustment to these figures to reflect affordable housing need, market signals and potential economic performance. The publication of the 2012 household projections has had the effect of reducing downwards the objectively assessed need figure; resulting in an overall figure of 518 dwellings per year for the period 2014-2035 when compared to the previously published 621. The effect of this change has been to increase the amount of housing land supply such that it now stands at 7.2 years. Baldersby St James is a small settlement that nevertheless has a primary school and Parish Church. It has limited opportunity to expand due to its tight grain and lack of brownfield sites. This means that any expansion of Baldersby St James has to be by greenfield development. Paragraph 55 of the NPPF states “To promote sustainable development in rural areas, housing should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. For example, where there are groups of smaller settlements, development in one village may support services in a village nearby. Local planning authorities should avoid new isolated homes in the countryside unless there are special circumstances.” The proposed development is in a rural area but is not considered to be in an isolated location. As such the development is in a rural locality but within a group of smaller settlements to the north east of Ripon. This is a good example where development in one settlement can help support existing services in nearby villages. 2. DESIGN AND IMPACT ON CONSERVATION AREA - Section 72(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 sets out that for development within a conservation area “special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character and appearance of that area”. It should be noted that the application site is not in the conservation area however it does abut it and development that may impact upon the setting of a conservation area should be considered carefully. The two adjacent houses date from the middle of the 20th century and do not follow the architectural style of Baldersby St James but have, nevertheless, been included in the conservation area. Baldersby St James is a very small village lying between the larger villages of Baldersby to the north and Rainton to the south. Beside the River Swale to the east of Baldersby St James stands the Palladian house, now a school, known as Baldersby Park, which was designed by Colen Campbell and built in 1720-21. The house was the centre of the estate that included the land upon which Baldersby St James lies. The Baldersby Park estate was acquired by William Dawnay, 7th Viscount Downe, in 1854. He was responsible from establishing the new village at Baldersby St James, which was designed by Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield. St James church, constructed in 1856 is Grade I Listed and identified as a local landmark building in the Baldersby St James Conservation Area Character Appraisal (2010), the remainder of the village dates from around this period except for 1 and 2 Kirklea, to the west of the application site and two semi-detaches bungalows on the western edge of the village, both of which date to the latter part of the 20th century. The proposed dwelling has been designed to reflect the architectural style of the village. When a village, such as Baldersby St James, has been designed and built as a complete village it is difficult to mimic the architecture without it appearing very contrived. The later buildings in the village, adjacent to the development site are very distinct from the older buildings in the village and do not attempt to copy the establish architecture. Because the core of the village was constructed at the same time as a model village the construction materials are all, to a large degree, complimentary to each other. The proposal must be considered against the relevant policies of the Development Plan: Policy EQ2 of the Core Strategy states that “the District’s exceptionally high quality natural and built environment will be given a level of protection appropriate to its international, national and local importance.” Saved Policy HD20 of the Local Plan sets out a series of criteria that relate to all new development. In this case the following criteria are considered relevant: A – New buildings should make a positive contribution to the spatial quality of the area and their siting and density should respect the area’s character and layout. B – New buildings should respect the local distinctiveness of existing buildings, settlements and their landscape setting. C – New buildings should respect the scale, proportions and height of neighbouring properties. D – New building design should respect, but not necessarily mimic, the character of their surroundings and, in important locations, should make a particularly strong contribution to the visual quality of the area. E – Fenestration should be well-proportioned, well-balanced within the elevation and sympathetic to adjoining buildings. F – The use and application of building materials should respect materials of neighbouring buildings and the local area. The proposed house is built, as the rest of the new village, in a gothic revival style. This is expressed most obviously through steeply pitched roofs and through eave dormer windows.