Minutes of Meeting of the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Committee commenced at 10 am in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Tuesday 8 November 2011.
Present:
Mr R Balfour
Mr S Black
Mr I Brown
Mr J Crawford
Mrs M Davidson
Mr D Fallows
Mr A Graham
Mr J Gray
Mr D Henderson
Mr D Kerr
Mr L Fraser
Mr T Prag
Mr H Wood
Officials in attendance:
Mr A Todd, Area Planning Manager, South
Ms N Drummond, Team Leader
Mr R Evans, Area Roads and Community Works Manager, INBS
Ms S Blease, Solicitor (Clerk)
Miss M MacLeod, Business Support Officer, Chief Executive’s Office
Mr K Gordon, Acting Administrative Assistant, Chief Executive’s Office
Provost J Gray in the Chair
Business
There were no declarations of interest.
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Miss J Campbell, Mr J Finnie, Mr S Park and Mr B Wynd.
2. Minutes
The Committee AGREED the content of the minutes of the meetings held on 4 October 2011.
3. Planning Applications to be Determined
There had been circulated Report No PLI-70/11 – PLI-71/11 by the Head of Planning and Building Standards as follows:-
Item 3.1
Applicant: Colin Kirkwood 11/02148/FUL (PLI-70-11 (1025kb pdf))
Location: Coulnakyle Farm Steadings, Nethybridge
Nature of Development: Application under Section 42 for removal of condition 6 of permission 10/00001/FULBS
Recommendation: Refuse
There had been circulated Report No. PLI-70/11 by the Area Planning Manager recommending refusal of the application for the reasons detailed in the report.
Mr A Todd presented the report and recommendation.
Mr A Todd outlined the application and report which recommended that the application be refused on the grounds that based on information held by SEPA the site lies within a functional flood plan with a medium to high risk of flooding as defined in Scottish Planning Policy. Discussions had taken place with the applicant and he had been advised to have a Flood Risk Assessment carried out on the site. This had not been carried out to date.
Members with a local knowledge expressed concern that it was not entirely clear whether or not the buildings were actually in the flood plain. They also sought clarification as to why a permanent resident would be more at risk from flooding than a temporary resident/holiday visitor.
Mr D Fallows, seconded by Mr S Black moved that the determination of the application be deferred for clarification of whether the building actually sat within the flood plain.
There being no Members otherwise minded determination of the application was accordingly DEFERRED for clarification of flood plain location.
Item 3.2
Applicant: Mr&Mrs C Kemp11/01760/PIP (PLI-71-11 (1) (572kb pdf) | PLI-71-11 (2) (1511kb pdf) | PLI-71-11 (3) (1761kb pdf) | PLI-71-11 (4) (743kb pdf))
Location: Land south of Seven Pines, Newtonhill, Lentran, Inverness.
Nature of Development: Erection of house and garage
Recommendation: Refuse
There had been circulated Report No. PLI-71/11 by the Area Planning Manager recommending refusal of the application for the reasons detailed within the report.
Ms N Drummond presented the report and recommendation.
Members in support of the application commented that the reasons for refusal of the application recommended by officers were a matter of officers’ interpretation of the policies which could be argued on a number of issues.
However other Members felt that the policies were very clear and unambiguous and that this application was clearly against policy, as stated in the reasons for refusal. Planning staff had discussed alternative sites with the applicant prior to the application being submitted. However these alternatives had been rejected by the applicant.
Mr J Gray, seconded by Mr D Kerr, then MOVED that planning permission in principle be REFUSED for the reasons detailed in the report.
Mrs M Davidson, seconded by Mr H Wood, moved as an AMENDMENT that planning permission in principle be GRANTED on the grounds that the application complied with the Highland Wide Development Plan and the Highland Council’s Supplementary Planning Policy Guidance as the proposed house would fit in with the settlement pattern and would be part of a group of houses.
Votes were cast as follows:
For the MOTION (10)
Mr S Black
Mr I Brown
Mr J Crawford
Mr D Fallows
Mr L Fraser
Mr A Graham
Mr J Gray
Mr D Henderson
Mr D Kerr
Mr T Prag
For the AMENDMENT (3)
Mr R Balfour
Mrs M Davidson
Mr H Wood
There being 10 votes for the motion and 3 votes for the amendment, the motion became the finding of the meeting and planning permission in principle was REFUSED for the reasons detailed within the report.
4. Delegated Decisions and Performance
Members NOTED the delegated decisions from 26 September to 28 October 2011.
The meeting closed at 11am