Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Graham Arthur and Eric Bosshard. 

An apology for absence was also received from Councillor Kathy Bance MBE; Councillor Kevin Brooks attended as substitute.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2015 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 18 March 2015.

The following oral question was received from Mr Adrian Lawrence of Lanniston Developments Limited:-

‘What is this Council doing to identify building land for self and custom builders and is the Council aware of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Bill which is in its final stage of Royal Assent when the Bill will become an Act of Parliament?’

The Chairman responded as follows:-

‘The Council is keeping a watching brief on the progress of the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Bill 2014-15. When Royal Assent is received the Council will take steps to ensure it complies. Interest in self build and custom build will be recorded and added to a register as required, and the Local Plan will have regard to the register.’

Report DCS15039

Members considered a motion proposed by Councillor Simon Fawthrop at a meeting of full Council on 23 February 2015 relating to the Petts Wood Area of Special Residential Character.  This motion was passed with a slight amendment to reflect that any decision would need to be taken by the Executive.

The motion was as follows:-

‘This Council recommends to the Executive that the existing statement in the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) in relation to the Petts Wood Area of special Character (ASRC) should be supplemented with the following updated statement which should also form the basis of any descriptions within the Local Development Framework (LDF) including any future reports to Development Control Committee.  This supplement should take place with immediate effect, subject to any statutory or technical considerations, which should be expedited.’

Councillor Fawthrop moved that the motion be endorsed; this was seconded by Councillor Auld.

RESOLVED that the motion be endorsed and the Executive be recommended to adopt the proposal.

Members considered the following planning application report:-

The following planning update was received:-

  The Draft Alterations to the London Plan referred to on page 26 of the report, had now been adopted; this did not affect what was set out in the report.

  The following amendments were made to the section on page 42 of the report confirming which items were planning obligations to be included within the Section 106 legal agreement in order to make the development acceptable:-

  The first bullet point should continue “Confidential Agreed Lease Terms between the NHS and Berkeley’s have been provided and will need to be secured within the S106 agreement along with a suitable time for the offer to remain open and a fallback to ensure a suitable healthcare facility is provided if NHS property services decide not to proceed.”.

  The healthcare contribution referred to in the second bullet point should be removed as it was not required due to the facility being provided within the development.

  In order to facilitate a prompt start to the development it had been agreed that the timing for the approval of conditions 7, 8, 12 and 13 should be altered to ‘before above ground works commence’.

  Reference to garages in condition 18 should be removed as there were none.

  The words ‘slab level’ in condition 28 should be amended to read ‘roof level’ as this would more adequately secure the height.

  Members views were sought on a proposed alteration to condition 32 on page 52 as given the site's town centre location, the applicant had requested that the time for construction work and related deliveries be altered to Monday to Saturday 8-6 and Sunday 10-4. 

Oral representations in objection to the application were received from Mrs Jenny Wood on behalf of Lancing Road Residents’ Association.  Mrs Wood made the following points:-

  Whilst the need to redevelop the Police Station was recognised, some concerns were raised by a number of assumptions made in the report regarding car use and parking.

  Firstly, the traffic assessments predicted that Health Centre staff, patients and visitors to residents would all seek to park in Lancing Road.

  Secondly, as the proposal included no affordable housing, car ownership by residents would probably be in line with the rest of the Borough.  The paper circulated to Members showed that application of the published statistics for the Borough suggested that car ownership could be more than twice the number of allocated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.1

(Report to follow)

Report DRR15/033

Members considered the outcome of a consultation undertaken on proposals to adopt a new conservation area in Beckenham Town Centre.

Councillor Dykes took the Chair as Councillor Dean left the room and did not take part in the discussion or vote.

The Chairman welcomed the overwhelming positive response to the consultation and moved that the proposal be endorsed; this was seconded by Councillor Scoates.

It was suggested that the accuracy of the map accompanying the report should be confirmed.

RESOLVED that:-

1)  subject to confirmation of the area mapping, the adoption of a new conservation area to be known as ‘Beckenham Town Centre Conservation Area’ be approved; and

2)  the Executive be recommended to agree adoption of the new conservation area.

Report DRR15/009

Members considered the addition of an addendum to the Council’s existing Supplementary Planning Document Planning Obligations (2010) to reflect changes introduced by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 (as amended) which come into effect from 6 April 2015.  The report advised that changes to the pooling of S106 planning contributions (Town and Country Planning Act 1990) of more than five contributions from separate permissions for an item of infrastructure, come into effect nationally from 6 April 2015.  The report outlined the Council’s approach to ensure that contributions for necessary infrastructure to support development continues to be sought from developers in line with the Development Plan.

The Chairman outlined the report intimating that this was a transitional change between Section 106 agreements and CIL under the Local Plan.  To comply with statutory regulations, Members would need to endorse this as from April, ongoing contributions would be identified for specific projects for which no more than five contributions could be received.  The Chairman moved that the recommendations be endorsed; this was seconded by Councillor Joel.

Members were informed that as the Council would be seeking specific financial contributions, this would put the Council in a stronger position with regard to transparency.

Affordable housing contributions would be excluded from CIL once it was introduced, and would continue to be collected through Section 106 agreements.

RESOLVED that:-

1)  the addendum to the Council’s adopted SPD Planning Obligations (2010) updating references to threshold and the pooling of Section 106 Agreements as required by the CIL Regulation 2010 be endorsed;

2)  the Executive be recommended to agree the addendum set out in Appendix 1 of the report; and

3)  the changes set out in the report, due to come into effect on 6 April 2015 as a result of the CIL Regulation 2010 be noted.

Report DRR15/025

Members were requested to consider the amendment of the income threshold for ‘intermediate housing’ to reflect changes, primarily in prices, so as to ensure that housing is accessible to local residents.

The Chairman welcomed the report stating that the new limits would result in an increase in the number of people eligible to apply for shared ownership.  He therefore moved that the recommendations be agreed; this was seconded by Councillor Dykes.

One Member was concerned with the level being raised at a time when unemployment was high and wages were not increasing.  Some people were not able to afford the required deposit.  Another Member referred to the amount of affordable housing provided.  He did not want to see affordable housing being allocated to people on higher wages.  The Council should concentrate on providing accommodation to people with an income of under £35k per year. 

However, it was generally agreed that this was a positive move which helped people onto the housing ladder.  It was noted that Bromley had a good record of providing accommodation within the Borough. 

RESOLVED that the following reviewed local upper limited intermediate housing income thresholds for 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units be agreed:-

1 bedroom units   £38,800

2 bedroom units  £50,500

3 bedroom units  £62,500

GLA upper limit applies to 4 bedroom units+

Report DRR15/021

Members considered the revised Local Development Scheme (LDS) for 2015/16 which set out the timescale for the preparation of the Local Plan for the Borough.

The current legislative requirements for the LDS only include the development plan documents (DPD) which are subject to independent examination which for Bromley would be the Local Plan.  Supplementary Planning Documents were not included in the formal LDS.  It did however, provide an indicative timescale for the preparation of a Local Community Infrastructure Levy.

It was reported that a vast amount of work had gone into developing the Local Plan and a lot of work still remained to be undertaken.  It was anticipated that the Local Plan would be completed by 2016.

The Chairman moved that the recommendations be approved; this was seconded by Councillor Buttinger.

RESOLVED that the Executive be recommended to approve the revised Local Development Scheme as the formal management document for the production of the Bromley Local Plan.