1. Home
  2. Council and Democracy
  3. Your Councillors

Issue - meetings

21/506207/FULL - Staplehurst Service Station, High Street, Staplehurst, Kent, TN12 0BN

 

 

Meeting: 23/06/2022 - Planning Committee (Item 38)

38 21/506207/FULL - REDEVELOPMENT OF THE FORMER STAPLEHURST SERVICE STATION FOR RETIREMENT LIVING ACCOMMODATION FOR OLDER PEOPLE (SIXTY YEARS OF AGE AND/OR PARTNER OVER FIFTY FIVE YEARS OF AGE) COMPRISING 27 RETIREMENT APARTMENTS AND 2 RETIREMENT COTTAGES INCLUDING COMMUNAL FACILITIES, ACCESS, CAR PARKING AND LANDSCAPING - STAPLEHURST SERVICE STATION, HIGH STREET, STAPLEHURST, KENT pdf icon PDF 318 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Planning and Development.

 

In introducing the application, the Principal Planning Officer advised the Committee that an additional representation had been received the previous day.  It did not raise any new material issues or any issues that had not already been considered in the report.

 

Mr Wiseman, an objector, Councillor Buller of Staplehurst Parish Council, and Ms Jackson, for the applicant, addressed the meeting.

 

Contrary to the recommendation of the Head of Planning and Development, the Committee agreed to refuse permission.  In making this decision, the Committee considered that:

 

The main apartment building is out of scale with the predominant footprint, height, and mass of buildings within the street scene and local area and it protrudes beyond the established building line with a lack of space to provide sufficient landscaping/tree planting.  It therefore fails to respond positively to, or be sympathetic to, local character, and would be an incongruous building harmful to the street scene and local area contrary to policy DM1 of the Maidstone Local Plan and policy H1 of the Staplehurst Neighbourhood Plan and paragraph 130(c) of the NPPF.

 

In the absence of a legal agreement to secure the necessary off-site affordable housing contribution the development would be contrary to policy SP20 of the Maidstone Local Plan.

 

RESOLVED:  That permission be refused for the following reasons:

 

1.  The main apartment building is out of scale with the predominant footprint, height, and mass of buildings within the street scene and local area and it protrudes beyond the established building line with a lack of space to provide sufficient landscaping/tree planting.  It therefore fails to respond positively to, or be sympathetic to, local character, and would be an incongruous building harmful to the street scene and local area contrary to policy DM1 of the Maidstone Local Plan and policy H1 of the Staplehurst Neighbourhood Plan and paragraph 130(c) of the NPPF.

 

2.  In the absence of a legal agreement to secure the necessary off-site affordable housing contribution the development would be contrary to policy SP20 of the Maidstone Local Plan.

 

Voting:  13 – For  0 – Against  0 – Abstentions