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Agenda item
Rocklands Private Caravan Park, Rocklands Lane
- Meeting of Planning, Wednesday, 4th March, 2015 6.00 pm (Item 76a)
- View the declarations of interest for item 76a
Minutes:
Proposal:
Retention of holiday let building (with reduction to balcony area to the dimensions permitted by HS/FA/12/00952) and access ramp. Relocation of solar panels to roof of holiday let building.
Application No:
HS/FA/14/01036
Existing Use:
Holiday let
Hastings Local Plan 2004
T7, L1, L2, L3, DG1, DG3, DG7,
DG8, DG21, C1 and C6
Conservation Area:
No
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraphs 17, 109, 115, 117,
118,120, 121, 126, 128, 129,
131, 132, 133.
Hastings Planning Strategy
SC1, FA5, EN1, EN5 and EN7
Development Management Plan
Proposed Submission Version:
DM1, DM3, DM4, DM5, HN1
and HN4
Public Consultation:
463 letters of objection received;
4 letters of support received
and 1 petition
MsBahcheli reported on an application for the retention of a holiday let building (with reduction to balcony area to the dimensions permitted by HS/FA/12/00952) and access ramp. Relocation of solar panels to roof of holiday let building at Rocklands Private Caravan Park, Rocklands Lane, Hastings.
The proposal is a full planning application to retain a holiday let building that has been partially constructed without planning permission in the south west corner of Rocklands Holiday Park.
The application site lies within the Rocklands Caravan Park, which sits within the Hastings Country Park and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The application site lies at the south western edge of the caravan park.
The site also lies within the setting of the Hastings Old Town conservation area, the boundary of which lies to the west and south of the application site and shares the southern boundary of the site with the conservation area.
The application site also lies partially on, and within the setting of a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) and lies within an Archaeological Notification Area.
This is a full application which seeks planning permission to retain a two-storey holiday let building that has been partially constructed at Rocklands Holiday Park. The shell of the building has been constructed but the building is not complete.
In addition to the retention of the partially constructed building, this application also seeks consent to make some alterations to it:
· A reduction of the size balconies to be similar to a previous planning consent (HS/FA/12/00952),
· The location of solar panels on the roof,
· Further landscaping to the south, east and west,
· Some changes to window and door treatments.
· A ramp constructed for vehicular access will be cleared away and restored.
· Landscaping to the south and the north.
This application is similar to a previous application that was refused by this planning committee in June 2014 (HS/FA/14/00406). That application sought to amend a previous planning consent (HS/FA/12/00952 - granted on delegated authority) which is similar to this current proposal. However the differences between the 2012 proposal and this current proposal are sufficiently material to require a fresh planning application.
In addition, HS/FA/14/00406 was not supported by accurate plans and was not supported by appropriate evidence.
The current application building does not therefore benefit from planning permission.
The main differences between the constructed building and the consented building (HS/FA/12/00952) are:
· The building has been re-sited/re-orientated to face further south
· The ground levels are 0.15m higher.
· The ground floor has been extended in the south west corner
· The height of the building has been increased by 0.6m (to 6.2m in total)
· The balconies extend further from the building.
There have also been some changes in circumstances at the application site in the period since planning permission HS/FA/12/00952 was granted. These are the landslip in February 2014 and the loss of vegetation as a result. Some hedging was also removed on the east/south of the application site as a result of the construction.
The main issues considered were the relationship of this proposal to the previous planning consent, the landscape impact, the impact on the historic environment, the impact on residential amenity, the impact on nature conservation interests, the ground conditions and drainage and tourism development.
On balance, the planning history/fallback position and the benefits of the scheme to the visitor economy are outweighed by the harm to the landscape character and visual amenity of the AONB, the Country Park and the setting of the conservation area.
MsBahcheli explained that a late representation was received from the Applicant’s technical experts Oscus Ltd which responded to the Coffey Report commissioned by the Council. She recommended that planning permission be refused subject to additional wording being added to the resolution.enabling the Council to go back to Coffey in respect of the specific issues raised by Oscus Limited regarding the second reason for refusal.
A report containing some late electronic comments had been received since the publication of the agenda. This was circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting.
The Human Rights considerations have been taken into account fully in balancing the planning issues.
Having declared her prejudicial interest Councillor Charlesworth was absent from the Chamber during discussion and voting.
Councillor Hodges, Ward Councillor, was present and spoke against the application.
Members discussed this item at length.
Councillor Wincott proposed a motion to refuse the application as set out in the resolution below. This was seconded by Councillor Rogers.
RESOLVED– (unanimously) that:
Following receipt of late comments from Oscus Limited on Coffey’s response to the Oscus November 2014 report, the Planning Officer needs to seek further advice from Coffey. If following receipt of that advice the Planning Officer agrees with the assessment of the Applicant’s Experts the second reason for refusal will be withdrawn.
Planning permission be refused subject to the following reasons:-
1.
The proposal, by virtue of its height, form and colour which is highly visible in long, medium and short views from the east, south and west, has a harmful impact on the landscape character and visual amenity of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Hastings Country Park. Therefore the proposal does not accord with Local Plan 2004 policies L1 and L2, Hastings Planning Strategy Policies EN7 and FA5, and the National Planning Policy Framework paragraphs 132, 133. The conflict with the development plan and the National Planning Policy Framework is not outweighed by any other material consideration;
2.
Insufficient evidence is submitted to demonstrate that the application building would not be affected by landslips close to the application site and that the additional loading on existing building would not affect slope stability. As a result adopted Hastings Local Plan policy DG21 and emerging Development Management Plan proposed submission version policy DM5 are not complied with; and
3.
The proposal, by virtue of its height, form and colour, would be highly visible within the setting of the Old Town conservation area and the setting of the SAM and would be harmful to the significance of each of these designated heritage assets. The proposal therefore does not accord with Local Plan 2004 policy C1 and Hastings Planning Strategy Policy EN1 and the National Planning Policy Framework paragraphs 131 and 132. The conflict with the development plan or the National Planning Policy Framework is not outweighed by any other material considerations.
Note to the Applicant
1.
Statement of positive engagement: In dealing with this application Hastings Borough Council has actively sought to work with the applicant in a positive and proactive manner, in accordance with paragraphs 186 and 187 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Supporting documents:
- Rocklands Private Caravan Park, Rocklands Lane, item 76a PDF 129 KB
- MAP_Rocklands Private Caravan Park, Rocklands Lane, item 76a PDF 287 KB
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