An apology for absence was received from Cllr Lyn Milner.  Cllr Deborah Croxton attended as her substitute.

The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on Wednesday 31 January 2024 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.

There were no declarations of interest made.

RESOLVED that the application be granted PERMISSION subject to planning conditions outlined in the report.

The Committee considered application 20231182 - Site Of Battle Of Britain Coldharbour Road, Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent.  The application was for the variation of condition 2 attached to planning reference 20221251, for the construction of a care home (within Class C2) associated parking, access, drainage, boundary treatments, landscape and other associated works; to allow the increase of 65 bedrooms to 75 bedrooms and the provision of a basement.

Members were informed of the proposed changes to the previously approved scheme under planning reference 20221251.  These were as follows:

·       An increase to the number of bedrooms from 65 bedrooms to 75 bedrooms and associated internal alterations.

·       The creation of a basement floor.

·       Partial set back on first floor north elevation changed to create a consistent wall line.

·       Introduction of a shallow lightwell at the north corner of the building adjacent to the sight entrance to allow basement level access.

·       2no. additional private patio areas to southern side of south wing.

·       New path introduced adjacent to resident’s courtyard to link to relocated service entrance.

·       Altered Windows.

·       Altered Materials.

The Planner explained that the only change to plans in relation to landscaping was to accommodate the new basement with a small section of hard landscaping near the entrance to the side, providing a pathway to the new basement.

Members were informed of changes to room configurations internally which consisted of:

·       the basement space would be used to relocate staff rooms, freeing up space for resident bedrooms on the ground, first and second floors.  Staff rooms in the basement would include; staff WC’s, kitchen’ laundry facilities, staff rest area and a plant room.

·       The ground floor would see an increase from 25 bedrooms to 29 by removal of staff areas.

·       Staff rooms would be removed on the first floor and would therefore see an increase in bedrooms from 25 to 29.

·       The second floor would see an increase of resident bedrooms from 15 to 17.

The Planner outlined the minor external changes due to the proposed scheme such as altered windows, new pathway, new shallow light well and 2 additional patio areas on the southern side.

The Committee were advised that the proposed changes would have not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area and any changes made, took into consideration the character of the site and surrounding townscape.

The Committee were invited to ask questions for clarification:

·       It was queried whether the parking provision should be increased due to the additional 10 bedrooms proposed.  The Planner informed the Committee that although there were additional rooms this would not mean a commensurate increase in staff numbers.  There would still be the previously agreed, 27 spaces and 1 ambulance space provided which continues to meet the minimum parking requirements.

·       Members wondered if the increase in residents should impact the number of spaces allocated for disabled parking.  The Planner advised that as per the original permission, there was no additional disabled parking.  The Head of Planning added that due to the health of the residents they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

A copy of the schedule has been placed in the democracy web library. A hard copy is also available upon request: -

Document library - Gravesham Borough Council

A schedule showing applications determined by the Director (Environment) under delegated powers had been published on the Council’s website.