Issue - meetings

            That planning permission be refused, against officer recommendation, on the grounds of overdevelopment, concerns about parking and the requirement to reverse out onto the main road. 

            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 18 April 2016.  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 application and explained that the proposal was to convert a former dwelling into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) with six bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and three bedrooms with a shared bathroom.  Two parking spaces were on the existing driveway and an additional access point was proposed with a further two parking spaces.  Both accesses would require reversing onto the High Street as there was insufficient space to turn within the site; Highways officers had not raised any issues with this.  A bus stop was also situated outside the property.  The main issues related to intensification of the residential use and the impacts relating to noise, disturbance, parking and access issues.  There were no parking standards for a HMO and therefore four spaces was deemed appropriate because of the proximity to local facilities and a bus stop with services directly to Chester and into Flintshire towns; a cycle store was also to be included in the site.  There were no windows in the property which directly overlooked the school playing fields or the adjacent residential properties in either the existing dwelling or the proposed extensions.

            Mr. J. Morgan spoke against the application.  He highlighted a number of issues which included that even though it had been indicated that the residents would be working professionals, this could change without notice and the building could be occupied by more vulnerable groups of people which could create child protection issues with the windows overlooking the school premises.  He felt that the provision of only four parking spaces for nine bedrooms was a problem as there was no-where for all of the residents to park if they all had a vehicle and would create extra traffic on an already busy road.  The school used the local church regularly and because there was no pedestrian crossing in the area, any additional traffic could increase a danger for those crossing the road.               

            Councillor Richard Lloyd proposed refusal of the application, against officer recommendation, which was duly seconded.  He felt that the site visit had allowed the Committee to see the location of the site, which was significant.  It was close to the primary school, church and doctor’s surgery and the property, which had not been a police station since the 1950s, had been empty for the past couple of years.  He did not feel that the change of use to a nine bedroom house was a good use of the site and expressed significant concern about the requirement to reverse out of the site on the High Street.  He commented on the Design and Access Statement and on the issue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 172