Open Session:

There were several members of the public present. (see attached notes).

Present:

Cllr N R G Clarke (Chairman)
Cllr N J Chard
Cllr Mrs B Charlton
Cllr D R Cole
Cllr M F J Daly
Cllr B H Terry (arrived at 2pm)
Cllr N C Wood

In Attendance:

Jo Stannard, Deputy Town Clerk

P/4221 Absence

There were none.

P/4222 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Mrs Charlton declared a personal and prejudicial interest in application numbers 85482 and 85506 for units in the Furlong Shopping Centre as she is an employee of the Centre. She left the room during discussion of these applications.

With the agreement of the Committee, planning application numbers 85428, 85514, 85482 and 85506 were discussed next for the benefit of members of public present (see Annex `A' for observations) - (on the PDF version).

Cllr Mrs Charlton left the room during discussion of numbers 85482 and 85506. Cllr Terry arrived during discussion of number 85506 at 2.00pm.

P/4223 Minutes of Previous Meeting

P/4218: Cllr Clarke asked if the Town Clerk had been requested to chase the District and County Councils for a legal opinion on the extent of the market's rights for incursion into the highway. The Deputy Town Clerk replied that this had not been a resolution of the meeting. He therefore asked if members would support this action.

RESOLVED:

1) That the minutes of the meeting held on 22nd July 2005, having been circulated, were approved and signed as a correct record.

2) That the Town Clerk be requested to push the District and County Councils for a legal opinion on the validity of the Charter.

P/4224 Planning Appeal

Members noted that Mr K B Brown had lodged an Appeal with the First Secretary of State against New Forest District Council's refusal to grant planning permission for a temporary replacement fence at Lochend, Hurst Corner, Salisbury Road.

It was noted that the Town Council had recommended refusal of this application as the plans appeared to show a permanent solution and one that would hamper the growth of any replacement hedge. In addition, the fence appeared to have a dominant visual impact and would be out of keeping with the surroundings.

RESOLVED: That the Town Council make no further comments on the Appeal by Mr K B Brown.

P/4225 New Forest District Local Development Framework: Draft Statement of Community Involvement

Members considered the Draft Statement of Community Involvement and noted that the Deputy Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, had submitted a response in order to meet the statutory deadline of 12th August.

RESOLVED: That the response to the Draft Statement of Community Involvement be approved.

P/4226 The Delivery of Affordable Housing (on Development Sites) through the Planning Process.

Members considered the Draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) produced by the District Council on the Delivery of Affordable Housing (on Development Sites) through the Planning Process.

It was noted that the SPD was intended as a guide to landowners and developers on how the District Council would be seeking to implement its policies through the negotiation of planning applications. It was hoped that the guidance would help smooth and speed up negotiations on affordable housing, add clarity and certainty to the process and produce better value for money.

Members agreed that the document was a sensible clarification of an area where developers could be confused.

RESOLVED: That the Council submit a positive response to the consultation in support of the Draft SPD, but make no specific comments on its content.

P/4227 Reductions to Supported Bus Services

Members noted that the County Council intended to withdraw certain bus services from October 2005 as they failed the Council's policy to limit subsidies to a maximum of £2.50 per passenger journey. For Ringwood, this meant the loss of the Wilts & Dorset X34 Sunday service between Southampton and Bournemouth. In addition, it was noted that the X33 would also be withdrawn at the end of August and there would be minor changes to services X36, 41 and 161.

RESOLVED: That the changes to the bus services be noted.

P/4228 Developers Contributions

It was noted that the District Council did not have a system in place to check the progress of developments to determine the handover of Section 106 monies. The Deputy Town Clerk reported that she had produced a schedule of developments of three or more dwellings, which would be kept updated, and it would be possible to use this to keep a check on developments in order to inform the District Council when payments were due.

She asked if there were any volunteers from the Committee who may be able to monitor these developments on a regular basis. All members felt that they could keep an eye on developments and it was suggested that a list be circulated on a monthly basis so that members could check on developments and report on progress to Committee.

RESOLVED: That a list of developments generating Section 106 monies be circulated with the agenda for future Planning, Town & Environment Committee meetings and that members check on those developments and report back to Committee.

P/4229 Planning applications Considered

Planning applications in respect of the weeks ending 19th and 26th July and 2nd and 9th August 2005 were considered.

RESOLVED: That the observations as shown in Annex `A' be submitted. (on the PDF version)

P/4230 Urgent Business

i) HCC Review of Highways and Transportation Service

The Deputy Town Clerk reported that Hampshire County Council was currently undertaking a review of local service delivery in its highways and transportation services. The aim of this review is to look at how the department is distributed between headquarters and local offices to best deliver services such as road inspections and repairs, passenger transport information, designing and implementing road improvement schemes, providing road safety advice and developing transport policy for the county.

It was noted that the County Council now wished to invite a range of District and Town/Parish Councillors to a two hour workshop in September to look at issues around the delivery of these services. The Deputy Town Clerk therefore asked if any members would be interested in putting their name forward to attend this workshop.

RESOLVED: That Cllr Clarke be nominated as the Town Council's representative to attend the workshop.


The Chairman closed the meeting at 2.55pm.

Open Session:

Planning Application Number 85482 Land Rear of 264 Christchurch Road

Mr Paul Dawson of 3 Meadowlands spoke on behalf of residents in Meadowlands, Shires Close and Christchurch Road in strong opposition to this application. He made the following points:

Planning application is misleading

A hedgerow would have to be removed to accommodate the development

The size and bulk of the proposed dwelling is too excessive for the plot

Would have a detrimental effect on neighbours ­ loss of light / loss of privacy / intrusion / overlooking / overshadowing

Frontage would be 2m from the road and would appear as a dominant and intimidating development

would also look directly into 1, 2 and 3 Meadowlands

Not in keeping with existing properties

Car port is completely out of character ­ existing properties have double brick built garages with pitched roofs

Safety concerns about additional traffic in a narrow road

Noise would increase by 10% with up to 4 more cars being accommodated

Mr Brook of 258 Christchurch Road, the immediate neighbour to the proposed new dwelling also strongly objected to the application on the following grounds:

Immediate loss of privacy/overlooking

The rear elevation of the proposed dwelling would be only a few feet from his property

The southerly aspect from his property would be completely destroyed ­ it would be filled with a brick wall and roof over 24 feet high

3 windows would be overlooking his property and would have unobstructed views of his garden and house. Even though 2 windows would be opaque, this would make no difference when they were open

Loss of light

Mr Brook read a letter from Mr & Mrs Taylor of 8 Shires Close who wished to object to the proposed development as it would have a detrimental affect on their outlook, with the side wall being 20m from their fence.

Planning Application Number 85514 ­ Gorselands, Hightown Hill

The applicant, Mr Stickley, informed members that he had worked closely with NFDC since the previous application was refused and hoped that he had addressed this Council's concerns with this revised application.

Planning Application Number 85506 ­ Block 4, The Furlong

Mr Tracy of MBP Architects outlined the reasoning behind the redevelopment of Block 4. He said that the reason for the alterations was that the existing building was out of keeping with the needs of modern shopping and there was a requirement for larger shop windows.

He explained that the servicing for the unit had been partly addressed with the redevelopment of Waitrose as there were now 3 spaces for articulated lorries, one of which was dedicated to the Furlong Shopping Centre. There was also space for a 12-tonne lorry directly to the rear of Block 4.

Planning Application Number 85482 ­ 5 & 6 The Furlong

Mr Tracy also spoke on this application and said that, following discussions with the Conservation Officer, they had taken the building line back in order to address the reason for refusal of the last application.