Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting of the Planning and Development Committee held on 11 March 2022 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Schedule - Page 11

Item 1 - Land Adjacent to Ayresome Gardens - Page 13

Item 2 - South Lodge, Acklam Road - Page 31

Item 3 - 25 Harrow Road - Page 41

Item 4 - 16 Queens Road - Page 57

The Head of Planning submitted plans deposited as applications to develop land under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

20/0374/FUL Erection of part-three, part-four storey residential building comprising 72no. beds for student accommodation (sui generis) at Land adjacent to Ayresome Gardens, Middlesbrough, TS1 4QN for Mr S Chambers

The above application had been identified as requiring a site visit by members of the Planning and Development Committee. Accordingly, a site visit had been held on the morning prior to the meeting.

Full details of the planning application and the plan status were outlined in the report. The report contained a detailed analysis of the application and analysed relevant policies from the National Planning Policy Framework and the Local Development Framework.

The Head of Planning advised that the application had been submitted for consideration to the Planning and Development Committee, on two previous occasions, and was subsequently deferred. Members were therefore advised that it was important that a decision was made in respect of the application. The committee was also advised that Councillor Cooper, in his capacity as Ward Councillor, had previously submitted an objection in respect of the application, which he had now subsequently withdrawn.

The Council’s Solicitor explained that the committee had previously deferred the application to seek further information on the access to the site, the trees and the car parking. It was clarified that Ayresome Gardens was public open space, meaning that the public could cross it for recreational purposes (e.g. walking, cycling, running etc.). If the building was constructed, the public could use Ayresome Gardens to access it. If approval was granted, planning permission did not provide an unequivocal right to utilise Ayresome Gardens for the purpose of constructing the building, for instance parking construction vehicles and storing building materials. Ultimately, the use of the land to construct the building could result in the public right of way being obstructed or diverted.

The Development Control Manager advised that the application was first taken to the committee meeting in December 2021, and then subsequently in March 2022 and confirmed the reason for deferral.

The scheme, since its initial submission, had been amended by providing a reconfiguration to the parking/drop off bays to the rear of the premises, provision of details in relation to cycle storage, amended refuse store details and most recently, the reduction in the number of bed spaces from 74 down to 72. Discussion had also taken place in relation to access to the site and removal of trees within the adjacent Ayresome Gardens.

The application site had been granted planning permission for a similar use in 2016. Through planning permission, consent had been granted for the construction of a part-two/part-three storey building, with a brick/block with render external appearance, accommodating 72 student beds. Although the development had not been constructed, pre-commencement conditions had been discharged and groundworks commenced, meaning the 2016 permission had a technical commencement and was extant, and could be built out any time. The main differences between the approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22/3

Notifications and Reporting

The Head of Planning explained that work was being undertaken to produce lists of delegated decisions for future meetings of the Planning and Development Committee.

The Head of Planning advised that a new planning portal had been implemented and technical issues had been encountered with notifications and reporting.  It was explained that the weekly list of planning applications, which was previously emailed to all Councillors, was currently unavailable in the format previously provided. A solution to reintroduce a weekly emails was currently being explored.  In the meantime, Members were still able to access the weekly lists via the portal and Members would continue to receive notification of applications once interested parties were consulted.

NOTED