The Corporate and Community Admin Assistant
read out the following statement:
“Any observations which are made during
the course of this site visit by Members of the Planning Committee
are limited to those issues identified by the Planning Manager in
consultation with the Chair of the Planning Committee and the Ward
Member or Members of the area where the application site is
located, as set out in Part 3, Annexe 2 of the North Devon District
Council constitution.
Such observations are made after viewing the
site and on the basis of the limited information available on
site.
Any such observations are not, nor should they
be taken as an indication that the application is acceptable or
unacceptable. A full presentation and consideration of all the
planning issues will be made when the matter was determined by the
Planning Committee.”
The Committee:
- Arrived at on the
northern most part of the Site.
- The Planning
Officer outlined the site plan.
- Noted the route
into the site as well as the proposed route through the site.
- The Planning
Officer noted that the report due to go to Planning Committee was
not yet complete but would be ready to go to the next Planning
Committee.
- Noted the outline
plan for the individual dwellings and car parking
arrangements.
- Noted the outlined
plan for ‘Area One’ and observed the northern area of
the proposed plan.
- Noted the proposed
block of flats, which would be six stories high, one story higher
than the Old Leisure Centre building.
- Noted the view of
the proposed site from the north side of the river.
- Noted the open
green spaces proposed on the plan and their relation to the
site.
- Walked around the
southern edge of the development towards the Long-stay Car
Park.
- Noted the quality
of materials proposed in the plan and that they were selected to
try and match the heritage of residential buildings across the
river to the site.
- Noted that the
Environment Agency was a consultee and had contributed to the plan
regarding the flood risk of the dwellings. The result was that the
ground floor of the proposed block of flats would be a blank solid
stone wall.
- Walked along the
southern bank of the river to the bottom of the Long-stay Car Park
and noted the proposed outline/location for ‘Area Two’
of the plan.
- Noted that the
proposed dwellings would be individual dwellings and a mix of two
or three stories. Dwellings would have two parking space
allocated.
- Noted the proposed
plans for ‘Block C’ and ‘Block D’ and their
relation to the site.
- Noted the proposed
riverside elevation of Block D and that they would have a dwarf
wall of 1.4 meters high on the edge of the garden closest to the
river.
- Noted that some of
the trees along the development would be retained but a lot would
be removed. It was also noted that landscaping to the site would be
added.
- Noted the proposed
location of a maintenance alley between Block C and Block D and
that the police had not raised any issue with its location in
regards to potential anti-social behaviour.
- Noted that the
timescale for starting the project was ‘as soon as
possible’, with the site broken down into phases.
- Noted the proposed
location of ‘Area Three’ and its relation to the
site.
- Noted the location
of the proposed site and its distance to the new Leisure Centre,
the new Play Park and Rock Park in terms of amenities.
- Walked to the
Southern part of the Long-stay Car Park to note proposed elevation
of the site.
- Noted ‘Area
Four’ and how it overlooked the new Leisure Centre.
It was agreed by the Planning Committee
that:
- The Lead Planning
Officer (South) would send a link via email to the Members of the
Planning Committee regarding the best locations to view the
proposed development.
- Any amended plans
for the development would be sent to the Members of the Planning
Committee via the Service Manager for Planning, Housing and
Health.