Issue - meetings

051831 Outline - residential development at "Station Yard", Corwen Road, Coed Talon, Flintshire.

Meeting: 22/07/2015 - Planning & Development Control Committee (Item 43)

43 Outline application - Residential development at Station Yard, Corwen Road, Coed Talon, Flintshire (051831) pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Decision:

            That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions detailed in the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) presented at the Planning and Development Control Committee meeting held on 25th February 2015.

 

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) in respect of this application.  Councillor Ray Hughes, having earlier declared an interest in the application, left the meeting prior to its discussion. 

 

                        The officer detailed the background to the report and explained that the application had been permitted in February 2015 subject to the applicant entering into a Section 106 (S106) obligation which included an education contribution for Castell Alun High School.  Following the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations from April 2015, it was no longer possible to request a S106 obligation if there had been five or more obligations for an infrastructure project or type of infrastructure since April 2010.  As there were five such S106 obligations for educational contributions for Castell Alun High School, a revised recommendation to remove this element from the S106 was sought.  The officer had considered refusing the application but it was considered that the development would not have a significant impact on the affected infrastructure.   

 

            Councillor Gareth Roberts proposed the recommendation for approval which was duly seconded.  He felt that the report highlighted a problem with the policy for S106 agreements/CIL but that as the application complied with policy it could not be refused.  Councillor Chris Bithell concurred and said that the nine pupils that the development of the site was anticipated to give rise to would be added to the figure of 125 over-capacity at the school, which would bring the total to 134 pupils.  The amount of contributions that were shown in the table at paragraph 6.05 totalled £269,107 but Councillor Bithell maintained that this was not a sufficient amount to build a classroom.  He commented on the cumulative effect but in agreeing that the application could not be refused said that approval could result in children not being able to attend the school in the future. 

 

            It was suggested by Councillor Richard Jones that the application should be refused because of the effect on local schools as the S106 monies could not be obtained.  Councillor Owen Thomas concurred that the amount of contributions already requested was insufficient to build a new classroom and suggested that a change to the policy was required.  Councillor Derek Butler felt that policies were being imposed on local authorities and that representations should be made to Welsh Government to express the concerns that had been raised. 

 

            Councillor Carol Ellis felt that the Education Service and children would suffer as a result of the CIL regulations and the inability to request further monies through a S106 agreement.  She spoke of a similar example in Buckley and raised concern that some developers had to make contributions and others did not.  Councillor Ellis suggested that a system should be in place to allow the monies to be pooled for projects for the benefit of children in Flintshire and added that a challenge should be made through the Planning Strategy Group and the Leadership of the Council for the policy and regulations to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43