Issue - meetings

PERMIT

Mr Harris presented the item to the Committee.

The Committee received the following speaker:

Mr Nick Billington – agent (statement read by Mrs Baker)

Officers responded to Members’ comments and questions as follows;

On the matter of the treatment and design of the green area referred to as ‘Eastern Square’ Mr Harris explained that this had been agreed under an earlier Reserved Matters application. He did not have the details but recalled that it was meant to be an informal area of open space with approved planting of specific trees; he did not believe that there was any provision for play equipment at the site.

On the matter of the treatment of the dwellings around the area, Mr Harris explained that officers had worked with the developers to ensure that the area is framed appropriately. For example the dwellings along the south side of were originally terraced units, however they have now been broken up with enhanced details and materials to improve the street scene around the area.

Mr Harris acknowledged that the majority of affordable housing was located within one area of the site, however, there was some pepperpotting and this did accord with the requirements of the SPD Guidance and the approach taken on other parcels within the SDL.

On the matter of the overall provision of affordable housing, Mr Harris confirmed that the overall number of affordable housing located throughout the entire site would meet the requirements of the outline planning permission. He explained the four affordable homes removed from this particular site had been redistributed into parcel 5G (another site to be developed by Linden Homes). In addition he assured the Committee that as the final parcels of land were being developed, the authority Housing Officers were very carefully monitoring the provision of affordable housing to ensure that the correct amount is delivered.

On the matter of whether the affordable housing proposed would be indistinguishable from other houses on site, Mr Harris informed the Committee that officers had worked closely with developers to make them as indistinguishable as possible.

With regards to the proposed parking provision at the allotments, Mr Harris explained that the parking provision for the allotments was not part of the application that the Committee were being asked to determine, however, he confirmed that the issues raised by the Committee would be taken into account.  In addition as part of the forthcoming S106 agreement which would run alongside the Reserved Matters Application the applicants would be required to submit an ‘Allotments Scheme’ which would address the issues such as waste collection, water provision and the size of pitches, all in line with the draft specification for the allotments which was included in the S106.

Mr Harris confirmed that the footpath running along the west of the site was suitable for wheelchair users. In addition Mr Shaw provided the Committee with some background information regarding the design principles of footways and shared surfaces, and further confirmed that the proposals were in line with Manual  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50