Agenda item

To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer on an application for a change of use, including alterations and extension of part of public house to form 3 flats and covered car parking and erect detached block of 2 one bedroom houses and Conservation Area application to demolish outbuilding and part of annexe to public house

(report attached)

  Plans, drawings and photographs including an historical image were displayed at the meeting.  A site visit had been undertaken earlier in the day which some Members had attended

  Officers presented the report which sought permission for change of use, part demolition, alterations and extension of part of a vacant public house to provide new retail units, residential accommodation and parking on a prominent site on High Street Wetherby, which was situated in a Conservation Area

  Officers reported the receipt of additional comments from Wetherby Town Council, the applicant and the submission of a 205 signature petition in support of the proposals

  If minded to approve the application, Officers requested additional conditions be attached relating to:

·  the provision of a sound insulation scheme

·  submission of details of proposed rainwater goods

·  the removal of the advert hoarding on the gable end elevation

·  provision of a construction method statement

Councillor Wilkinson declared a personal interest as a member of

Wetherby Town Council but stated that he was not a member of the Town Council’s Planning Committee

  The Panel heard representations from the applicant’s agent and an objector who attended the meeting

  In relation to a comment made by the applicant’s agent in a meeting with Councillor J Procter regarding the application, it was stated that this meeting did not involve other Ward Members

  Members discussed the following matters:

·  the vehicular access arrangements to the flats, which were at the rear of the premises with concerns that residents would park on Cliffe Terrace for the purposes of unloading, so causing obstruction

·  whether an alternative entrance could be created to prevent these problems or remove vehicular access rights to the two flats or introduce a TRO

·  landscaping; that it was difficult to envisage where planting could be sited; that this might be better considered when the adjacent site was dealt with but that a semi-mature tree should be considered for the site and that the two self-seeded sycamores on the site were not worthy of preservation

·  whether there was a bat roost on the site and that the Nature Conservation Officer’s report should be made available

Officers provided the following responses:

·  that an alternative entrance might be possible but that it could affect the whole scheme

·  that it would not be possible to restrict vehicular access to the two flats as this was outside of the site boundary and that a TRO would not be possible as the access was private although it could be possible for bollards to be sited outside the pedestrian entrance as a mechanism to deter parking

·  that there was not a bat roost on the site but there was bat activity and that the Nature Conservation Officer’s report would be e-mailed to all Members

·  that conditions 12 and 13 regarding landscape retention and the preservation of existing and retained trees should be deleted

Members considered how to proceed

A further concern was raised at the impact of the proposals on the

availability of natural light to the ground floor level of offices at the rear of the site

  RESOLVED -  That the applications be granted subject to the conditions set out in the submitted report, with the inclusion of the inclusion of the additional conditions requested and minuted above and with the deletion of conditions 12 and 13