Issue - meetings

That the application be refused for the following reasons:-

·         Departure from the UDP

·         Outside the settlement boundary

·         Did not comply with policies GEN3 and HSG3

·         The need of residents not being addressed

·         Duty to protect planning policy. 

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) in respect of this application which had been the subject of a site visit on 7 September 2015.  The usual consultations had been undertaken and the responses received detailed in the report.  Additional comments received since the preparation of the report were circulated at the meeting.

The officer detailed the background to the report and explained that the application had been submitted to Committee for determination due to the size of the development, the requirement for a Section 106 Agreement and Local Member request.  The site was outside, but adjacent to, the settlement boundary for Mynydd Isa and had previously been allocated by the Council for residential use during the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) process and therefore the principle of development had been accepted.  However, the UDP Inspector, having considered the site’s location, shape, landscape and the surrounding topography, and incursion into the rural area, de-allocated the site.  The application had therefore been advertised as a departure from the UDP policy.  However, it was considered that the absence of a five year land supply was a material consideration which outweighed the fact that the development was not within the settlement boundary. 

Observations had been made by ‘Flintshire Land Use Needs Care’ and a number of objections had been received from individual objectors and ‘Bryn Residents Against New Development’ (BRAND), along with a petition of 209 signatures.  Five letters of support for the proposal had also been received.  The officer provided details of the location of the site and advised that the site would be accessed from Llys Gwynant via Parc Issa from Bryn Road with a proposed pedestrian/cycle way connecting the site with Llys y Graig.  The proposal consisted of two, three and four bed properties and the site would include 30% affordable homes which totalled 18 two and three bed properties.  The planning history was detailed in the report which explained that the UDP Inspector had de-allocated the site but had not extended the green barrier to include this site.  At the time of the UDP inquiry, an allocation at Rose Lane, Mynydd Isa along with other completions and commitments gave Mynydd Isa a 6% growth rate but the site at Rose Lane had not yet come forward and was the subject of an appeal.  The issue of drainage and highways that had been considered by the UDP Inspector were also reported. 

Mynydd Isa, as a Category B settlement, had an indicative growth band of 8 to 15% over the plan period but as at April 2014 the settlement had a theoretical growth rate of 7.2%.  If the Rose Lane application did not come forward this would result in a growth rate of 4.3% for the area based on completions and a small number of commitments.  The latest published Housing Land Supply for Flintshire showed a 3.7 year land supply using the residual method and it was unlikely that the Council would be able to demonstrate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55