Eastleigh Borough Council Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath Local Area Committee Meeting

Councillor Marsh declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 as a Fair Oak Parish Councillor.

There was no public participation on this occasion.

At the previous meeting a resident has presented a case study regarding the issue of the Persimmon Phase 1 development, particularly the treatment of the boundary with 38A and 40 Mortimers Lane.  It was requested that minute 41 be amended to state that the case study ‘highlighted a number of flaws and problems with development control and planning policies’.

RESOLVED -

That, subject to the above amendment, the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Chair made the following announcements:

·  thanked Councillors Broomfield, Rushton and Dean for creating small working group to look at the case study raised at the last meeting.  The Planning Manager would attend the next team meeting and would come to march if anything further was required.

·  Informed the Committee that there would be works taking place at the Planney on 15 and 16 February to carry out clearance and install benches

·  Would have liked to announce that assets had been transferred to parishes, but this had yet to happen.

Councillor Tidridge questioned when the allotments at the Chase and Beau Gardens, along with the cemetery extension, would be transferred to the Borough Council from the developer?  Residents were frustrated that they cannot have an allotment when they can see them falling further into disrepair.  The Chair responded that she was expecting an update in February.

The Committee received a report by the Local Area Manager (agenda item 6) relating to expenditure from the Committee’s developer contributions:

The Committee received the following update:

·  There was a spelling mistake in paragraph 12 of the report, it should read BIFOHH

The Committee asked that thanks be extended to Amanda Coles, the S106 Officer, for all her work on using the developers contributions effectively.

RESOLVED –

That the Committee approved the following recommendations, subject to the update above:

(1)  £182,650 is allocated from developer contributions for a new splash pad at New Century Park, Fair Oak.

(2)  £60,000 is allocated from developer contributions for additional support for the Community Café at New Century Park, Fair Oak.

(3)  £17,404 is allocated from developer contributions for improvements to the Fair Oak village centre.

(4)  £12,000 is allocated from developer contributions for a replacement gate and play area fencing at Crowdhill, Fair Oak.

The Principal Planning Officer gave a short presentation on guidelines that had to be considered when determining planning applications; in particular the aspects that could, and could not, be taken into account. This was set against the broader policy framework.

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Head of Planning and Economy (Agenda item 8) concerning an application for the Erection of 8no. dwellings with parking, landscaping and associated works (amended description).  (Ref: F/21/90322).

The Committee were advised that the following updates had been made to the report:

·  A consultation response has been received from Natural England confirming no objection to the Habitats Regulations Assessment undertaken for the development subject to the applicant entering into a legal agreement to secure the required nitrates mitigation contributions.

·  A further consultation response has been received from Environmental Health raising no objection subject to a condition requiring further details in respect of noise to be provided for approval prior to first occupation of the dwellings.

·  A revised landscaping plan has been received to address matters raised by the Council’s Landscape Officer. No objection had subsequently been raised by the Landscape Officer with condition 8 (as set out in the agenda) to be updated to refer to the correct revision number of the updated landscape plan.

The recommendation was therefore updated to the following:

Subject to: i) the applicant entering into a legal agreement to secure the required contributions towards nitrates offsetting (nutrient neutrality).

To Delegate back to the Head of Housing and Development in conjunction with the Chair and Vice Chair of Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath Local Area Committee to PERMIT

RESOLVED -

That the Committee resolved to DEFER the application to allow for further clarity and information to be provided in relation to the environmental and climate change related impacts of the proposals, the implications of traffic noise upon future occupiers of the development, and the pedestrian and highway safety related considerations specifically associated with the lack of footway provision to the frontage of the site.

[NOTES: (A) A neighbouring resident spoke in objection to the application citing loss of privacy and noise impacts; (B) The agent and applicant spoke in support of the scheme citing the good quality design, adherence to planning standards, access to nature and the complementary nature of the design to the current Crowdhill development; (C) The Committee raised concerns over the loss of trees, drainage, highway safety, noise impacts, need for the development and issues with access across the verge; and (D) The Committee requested clarification as to whether Climate Change implications and an Equalities Impact Assessment should be included as separate sections within reports relating to planning matters as they are in other decision reports.]