Agenda item

Two members of the public wished to raise several points regarding the published draft minutes of the Regulation Committee held on 16^th July 2019 and some key issues they believed were omitted from these minutes.  They requested that these comments be included within the minutes and are summarised as follows:

·         Listed building setting - Believe that the significant Grade II* listed church was not accorded its full title and that this needs to be recognised.

·         Acknowledge that there is no doubt there is going to be some harm and that housing will have an impact on the Grade II* listed church and best views of the church are as one drives to the west.

·         136 letters of objection had been sent by local residents.

·         Reference to the Forge Field high court case which refer to setting of listed building.

·         Ecology – lack of effort to identify whether protected species are present on site and insufficient detail for the Council to make a decision.

·         Increase in car usage generated by the new development therefore contrary to SSDC Strategy for Climate Change emergency and low carbon living. 

·         Drainage – more detail required for the maintenance and management of the system.

·         That the procedural issues of the discussion particularly in relation to the final discussion and allowing for the fairness of the debate were not fully noted.

The Senior Planning Lawyer advised the committee that it was for the members of the committee to sign off the minutes and not to be altered by members of the public.  If members are minded to agree with the comments made these will be noted and the draft minutes of the 16^th July 2019 be amended and re circulated to members to agree and sign off at a later date.

She wished to clarify that the minutes are not a full verbatim transcript of what happened at committee but purely a summary of the points raised and read in line with the officer’s report.

The Senior Planning Advisor explained that the four key issues raised by members of the public and councillors – a) heritage asset and setting impact and design; b) drainage; c) ecology and d) traffic/highways impact were all covered in the Officer’s Report and by the Committee in its deliberations. Notwithstanding this, further detailing of the minutes could be carried out to reflect committee member concerns - but it should be noted that they are a summary of the discussion and in his opinion were sufficient to show that the Committee had properly considered and assessed the scheme.

Councillor Linda Vijeh felt that there were some key points that were not included in the draft minutes specifically to the special circumstances of this application and the procedural issues of the discussion and requested that the minutes of 16^th July 2019 be deferred from signing to address these points. 

The committee agreed to defer the signing of the minutes of the Regulation Committee held on 16^th July 2019 to a later date in order for them to be amended and re circulated to members.