Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council

The Parish Council have raised the following points:

·      They have not seen the viability assessment.

·      Little regard has been given to the strength of feeling that exists in objection to the applications in view of the petition of over 1200 signatures.

·      There is a contradiction as the report for MA/11/0511 states that the proposal is a departure from the development plan but the report for MA/11/0512 states that the proposed development complies with the development plan.

Officer Comment:

The viability assessment is confidential information and is on ‘yellow’ confidential papers on the Committee agenda for Members. This is why the Parish Council has not been sent a copy.

The petition is referred to in the report, has been fully considered, and officer’s reasons for the recommendation are clearly outlined.

This planning application does represent a departure from the development plan as it involves proposals for new housing within the countryside. The reason for departing is clearly outlined in the report and at the end, as follows:

The proposal, whilst a departure from the local plan, is considered to represent a well designed development that would provide housing within a reasonably sustainable location, and that would result in the significant enhancement of the existing listed buildings. This, together with the Council's current lack of a five year supply of housing, results in this departure from the Development Plan being considered acceptable.

The listed building consent (LBC) application complies with the development plan as it is judged to represent acceptable works to listed buildings. (LBC deals only with internal and external changes and not the change of use and creation of new dwellings).

RECOMMENDATION

My recommendation is unchanged.

APPROVE SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS