Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Harold Craske, Gary Harding and Samir Jassal.  Cllrs Leslie Hills, Leslie Hoskins and Tony Rana attended as their substitutes.

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 26 October 2022 were signed by the Chair.

To declare any interest members may have in the items contained on this agenda.   When declaring an interest a member must state what their interest is.  Any declared interest will fall into one of the following categories:

A Disclosable Pecuniary Interest which has been or should have been declared to the Monitoring Officer, and in respect of which the member must leave the chamber for the whole of the item in question;

An Other Significant Interest under the Code of Conduct and in respect of which the member must leave the chamber for the whole of the item in question unless exercising the right of public speaking extended to the general public;

A voluntary announcement of another interest not falling into the above categories, made for reasons of transparency.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair stated that he would deal with the planning applications in the following order:

•           20221062 - Carl Ekman House, Tooley Street, Northfleet

•           20220594 - The Amazon and Tiger, Harvel Street, Meopham

•           20220839 - Cobham Lodge, Valley Drive, Gravesend

Resolved that application 20221062 be delegated to the Service Manager for APPROVAL subject to conditions as set out in the report, with further conditions relating to details of external lighting and benches.

The Committee considered application 20221062 - Carl Ekman House, Tooley Street, Northfleet.  The application was for the construction of a front lobby area with canopy and new communal front entrance doors to include the redecoration of railings.  The Planning Officer informed Members that this application was for a Council property and therefore needed to be determined by the Committee in the public domain.

The Planning Officer gave an overview on recent changes that had been made to the external fabric of the building and advised Members that the flats were built in the late 1960s and located in the urban area of Northfleet.  The existing block of flats consisted of 52 dwelling and was 14 storeys high.

The Committee were informed that the proposed lobby extension would be 2.5 metres high, 4.18 metres wide and have a depth of 6.5 metres.  The Planning Officer advised that the proposed lobby canopy would be finished in black metal with the extension housing a glazed entrance, with three skylights to offer additional light into the lobby area.  Members were also notified that as part of the works, the Council would also provide some external improvements; painting of railings, re-tarmacking of the exterior ground and installation of benches.  The Planning Officer expressed that the improvements of the proposal would significantly improve the appearance of the building and the character of the street scene.

The recommendation was for approval subject to conditions.

The Committee felt that the proposal was a positive improvement for the flats and queried whether there would be security lighting provided in the new lobby extension.  The Planning Officer advised this could be a condition of approval. It was also mentioned by the Chair that consideration should be given to the type of exterior benches provided, they should offer back support for the elderly, be secure and resistant to vandalism. The Planning Officer advised that this could also be a condition of approval.

Resolved that application 20220659 be delegated to the Chair, Vice Chair and Service Manager for APPROVAL subject to conditions as set out in the report with further conditions relating to details of external lighting and benches.

Resolved that application 20220594 be APPROVED subject to planning conditions.

The Committee was presented with application 20220594 - The Amazon and Tiger, Harvel Street, Meopham.  The proposal related to a two-storey side extension to the pub that was granted as a Bed & Breakfast ancillary to the use of the public house in March 2015. As the Public House was currently closed, it was not possible to operate the B&B ancillary to the Public House. The applicants were therefore applying for a Section 73 application to vary condition 4 of the previously permitted application 20140008, so the B&B use was no longer ancillary to the Public House. 

Members were informed that the Public House ceased operation in April 2021 and the B&B ceased operation in October 2021.

The Planning Officer informed the Committee that the site was located in the Green Belt and the Harvel Wooded Downs Landscape Character Area. Members were advised that the variation of the condition would not result in any external alterations to the building and therefore would have no detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the street scene, surrounding landscape or openness of the Green Belt.

The Planning Officer advised Members that, as this application was a Section 73 application, only issues relating to the variation of condition 4 could be considered and no other matters pertaining to the original application, or the wider site could be considered by the Committee.

The recommendation was for approval subject to conditions.

The Committee was invited to ask questions for clarification and raised the following:

·         Members queried what was meant by the term ‘ancillary to the public house’ and whether there would be the option for the public house to open and operate as a pub in the future.  The Planning Officer explained that when the previous planning permission was granted in 2015, it was to operate as a public house with the B&B as an ancillary operation.  Now the public house was closed the B&B was not allowed to operate as it was no longer ancillary to the pub. However, the proposed change to the condition would not prevent the Public House from reopening in future.

·         Further clarification was sought from Members as to whether the building would become residential or part residential, by removing the fact it was ancillary to the public house.  The Planning Officer confirmed that with the existing permission, the B&B was not permitted to operate if the pub was closed and not active. The proprietor now wanted to solely run the B&B whilst the pub was not in operation.  The Service Manager (Planning) assured the Committee that any changes to convert the B&B to a residential dwelling would require a planning application to be submitted to the Council, as the proprietor would have to apply for change of use. By agreeing that the B&B was no longer ancillary to the Public House it would mean that the B&B could operate on its own with the option to re-open the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39a

Resolved that application 20220839 be REFUSED due to the layout of the proposed dwellings and height of Building D (11-unit apartment block situated to the north of the site) being out of keeping with the character of the local built environment and resulting in overdevelopment of the site, contrary to Policy CS19 of the Gravesham Local Plan Core Strategy (2014) and section 12 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2021).

The Committee considered application 20220839 – Cobham Lodge, Valley Drive, Gravesend.  This was for the following:

·         conversion of the existing house into to 10no. flats including side and rear extension and loft conversion;

·         conversion of rear annex building to 2no. dwelling houses including proposed new dormers;

·         construction of new apartment building to form 11no.new apartments; and

·         construction of 8no. semi-detached and 1no.detached houses and associated development.

The Chair confirmed that since the report had been published for presentation, a new document had been received the day prior to the meeting but advised the Committee that this should not be taken into consideration as it was received at such a late date.  However, the information received raised no new material planning considerations.

The Planning Officer advised Members that consultee comments from KCC as Lead Local Flood Authority had been received following their review of the Surface Water Management Strategy with no objections raised.  In relation to public responses received on this application, there had been 416 objections and 118 in favour of the proposed development.  The Committee were also advised that some comments against the application had been withdrawn.

The Planning Officer informed the Committee that there had been a previous application for the site that was refused in January 2020. Following the refusal, the applicant had worked with a new architect and engaged with the Planning Department with a pre-application enquiry prior to submitting the application that was before Members.

The Planning Officer presented the findings from the proposed unit size assessment outlined in the report and advised that in the most part these met the standards required, with exception to flats A.1, A.4, A.5 and A.8 which fell short of the minimum gross internal floor area, however the individual room sizes, as well as the provision of storage accorded with the standards, and would provide a good level of accommodation.

It was noted that the proposed plans offered two pocket parks, offering community space for the residents.  These open spaces also mitigated the shortfall of open space provided with the units.  Members were advised that the rear eastern side of the plot fell within green belt.  There were a number of trees within the site with Tree Preservation Orders (TPO).

The Planning Officer highlighted that the proposed development would provide 31 additional new homes within Gravesham, therefore offering a significant contribution towards the local need for housing and should be accorded significant weight.

The proposed development was deemed to be a sustainable form of development that accorded with national and local planning policy, apart from in relation to the delivery of affordable housing as it was not deemed financially viable.  However, the applicant had confirmed they would as part of the Section 106 agreement, agree to undertake a review of the viability of the scheme to ascertain if it was possible to make financial contributions towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.

It was recommended that the application be approved subject to a Section 106 Agreement and planning conditions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39b

A copy of the schedule has been placed in the democracy web library and also in the Reception, Civic Centre: -

Document library - Gravesham Borough Council