Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

372.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

 

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

 

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

 

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

 

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

 

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

 

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

373.

Land at Belgrave Road, Halfway ME12 3EE

10am – (2.7) 19/501921/FULL Land at Belgrave Road, Halfway ME12 3EE

 

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Members, officers, the agent, applicants and members of the public to the meeting.

 

The Major Projects Officer introduced the application which was for the erection of 153 dwellings, including open space, together with associated access, parking, infrastructure, landscaping and earthworks.  He explained that the site measured 5.3 hectares, and the majority of the dwellings would be two storey, with eight being 2.5 storey, and they would be a mix of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom housing.  The Major Projects Officer explained that the site was allocated for housing in the 2017 Local Plan, and Policy A13 in the Local Plan required a minimum of 140 dwellings on the site, emphasising that 140 was the minimum number of dwellings likely to be acceptable.  He reported that none of the technical consultees had raised objection to the application, subject to appropriate planning conditions and developer contributions to mitigate the impact of the development.  Queenborough Town Council and Minster Parish Council objected to the application, along with 31 local residents, and the comments were noted in the 7 November 2019 Planning Committee report.  The Major Projects Officer reported that the scheme was considered to be appropriate, with a good mix of housing types and density.  It was not considered to have unacceptable impacts and was in accordance with the adopted Local Plan.

 

The Agent added that the development would provide much needed housing and he outlined the developer contributions. 

 

Although the proposed development was not situated within Minster Parish it was suggested that it could have an impact on Minster residents, and a representative of Minster Parish Council spoke against the application and raised concern with the impact on the infrastructure as a result of the development.

 

Local residents raised objections which included the following:

 

·         Where did the demand for ‘much needed housing’ come from?;

·         the ground near the site was unstable;

·         the local sewers were not fit for purpose and already could not cope, without the addition of 153 houses;

·         the development would be detrimental to existing local housing, particularly nearby bungalows and there would be overlooking and overshadowing;

·         the highway mitigation measures did not resolve the highway issues;

·         there would be additional vehicles as a result of the development which would cause congestion issues;

·         the corner of Belgrave Road/Queenborough Road was dangerous;

·         there were already issues with traffic in the area, this would get worse;

·         traffic lights at Halfway would worsen traffic issues;

·         if the development was going to go ahead, better access was needed onto the A249;

·         insurance would go up and there would be increased flood risk;

·         impact on other roads, such as The Rise;

·         there would be a lot of noise during construction of the development;

·         a lot of residents moved to the area because of the peace and quiet and this would be lost;

·         the roads could not cope with increased traffic;

·         there was a lack of services, such as medical and educational;

·         there was not enough open space provision for families;

·         mix of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 373.