Hampshire County Council Regulatory Committee Meeting

Apologies were received from Councillors Lulu Bowerman, Pal Hayre and Adam Jackman. Councillor Stephen Philpott attended as a deputy for Lulu Bowerman.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed

It was confirmed that one deputation had been received for the meeting along with a County Councillor.

The Chairman confirmed that several virtual training sessions had been arranged, including one on Minerals on 6 November and a second on Waste, scheduled for the 20 November. Whilst they were primarily aimed at new Members, all Members were welcome to attend if they wished to.

New 1.5 Form Entry Primary School located on the "Southern School Site" of the Berewood development to the west of Waterlooville at Berewood South development, west of Waterlooville (No. 21/02122/HCS) (Site Ref: WRE063)

The Committee considered a report from the Assistant Director of Waste and Environmental Services regarding an application for a new primary school at the Berewood South development.

The updated report was shown and summarised for Members, highlighting some minor amendments to the report including an update to the parking provision on site. Members were shown aerial photographs of the site and surrounding area, including details of the wider housing development currently being processed in which the school would serve. Site plans were also shown that provided Members with detailed elevations and imaging of the proposed school.

The Committee received a deputation from the applicant, who spoke in support of the proposals and explained the design principles. County Councillor Jackie Porter also spoke in her capacity as the Opposition Spokesperson for Children and Young People and whilst was in favour of the school build, had reservations over the name and future public use.

During questions of clarification of the deputations, the following points were confirmed:

• Cladding was still used but the wood was treated to prevent any fire risks.
• Economics meant that a gas boiler was required to get the school up and running, but the school had been designed so that a ground source heat pump could be used in the future when affordable. Whilst using gas was not ideal, it was expected that it would be used minimally.
• The school was developer funded.
• A modest amount of artificial grass had been used as part of designing the outdoor space so it could be used by children all year round.
• Any future expansion of the school would be done so to the south and as it was a two-storey building, the extension would not take up too much space. The current school building was oversized for a 1.5 form entry to further help accommodate this.
• The change in car movements and parking in the update report was due to an error in the report, with the correct required car parking spaces being 31. The Highway response in paragraph 88 of the report was to the correct figures as stated in the update report. The provision was based on HCC policy.

During questions of the officer, the following points were clarified:

• Whilst a framework travel plan had been done, the final version required data gathered within the first year of the school opening in order to be effective and therefore couldn’t be completed in advance of the school opening.
• The parking and drop-off/collection provision complied with local policy, so if any further changes were requested then these would need to be discussed with the developer.
• The transport statement referred to lay-bys suitable for 10 vehicles, but this was outside of the boundary of the site and therefore not relevant to the planning application.

During debate, some Members felt the design of the school could be improved in terms of the exterior and utilising green energy. Other Members on the Committee felt that the exterior aesthetics of the school was not a priority or likely to be noticed by the children and the interior was the most important, being where they would be spending their time. Whilst there were reservations over the proposals, it was largely agreed that they were not sufficient to refuse the application on planning grounds.

Following debate, officers confirmed that no objections had been received on the application and the design was heavily dictated by budgetary constraints that were not previously in place. The proposals were rated ‘excellent’ according to Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards and be marked ‘outstanding’ for energy efficiency.

In response to Members concerns over not using green energy at the school at the outset and reducing the need for gas heating, it was agreed that an informative would be added regarding the natural gas heating system being replaced by a non-fossil fuel based heating system such as ground or air source heat pump be utilised as early as possible.

RESOLVED

Planning permission was GRANTED subject to:

-       The update report

-       An informativeregarding the ground heat pump being operational as soon as possible; and

-       The conditions set out in Appendix A (including any amendments in the update report)

Voting
Favour: 9
Against: 3
Abstentions: 1 (Councillor Kim Taylor was unable to vote due to arriving late to the meeting).

The Committee received a report from the Director of Universal Services (item 7 in the minute book), which updated Committee on the Monitoring and Enforcement work undertaken by the Development Management team (including monitoring and enforcement) Planning during the period June 2023 – September 2023.

It was confirmed that the ‘PPE mountain’ had been completely cleared with most of the material being recycled in Southampton. Members were also updated on Jackson’s Farm, which would likely be submitting an application to become a transfer station in the near future.

RESOLVED

The contents of the report were noted.