Committees
Minutes of the Site Meeting of the Lochaber Area Planning & Building Control Committee held at Sanna, Kilchoan, Argyll on Monday 27 August 2001 at 2.15pm.
Present:
Mr Andrew R McFarlane Slack, Chairman
Mr George M Bruce
Mr Brian J Murphy
Mr William MacLachlan
Mr Neil M Clark
In Attendance:
Mr K A Johnston, Area Planning and Building Control Manager
Mr K D Falconer, Area Solicitor/Administrator
Ms J Rees, Scottish Natural Heritage
Mr A MacNab, Crofters Commission
Also Present
Steven Canning, Applicant
Eilidh Canning, Applicant
Mairi McFarlane, Local Crofter/Grazings Committee Representative
Pat MacPhail, West Ardnamurachan Community Council
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Councillor Dr Michael Foxley and Mrs Olwyn J Macdonald.
2. Planning Application LO/2001/204 – Erection of Croft House at Sanna, Kilchoan, Argyll for Ms E Canning
There was circulated report (no.PL/27) dated 14 June 2001 by the Area Planning and Building Control Manager which advised that the Council were working earnestly with the Crofters Commission to achieve re-generation of the virtually extinct Sanna Crofting Township. The report indicated that a plan had been prepared to recast the existing 20 crofts into 5, to achieve viable part-time livelihood for crofters, and that the applicant was to be allocated one of these re-cast crofts, hence the application for planning consent.
Members were invited by the Area Planning Manager to grant planning permission subject to the following conditions:-
1) Standard Reserved Matters and Reasons
2) that the house shall be of traditional design form and finishes; it shall be of
single or 1.5 storey form and its roof shall be set at an angle of pitch
between 40 and 45 degrees and finished in natural dark blue/grey slate or
a dark tile: the ridge shall run generally parallel to the public road.
3) that the curtilage of the proposed house shall not exceed 0.33 of an acre
and details of the position and extent of the proposed curtilage shall be
submitted as a further Reserved Matter to that noted at 1 above.
4) that no development shall commence until the position of the house and
its finished floor have been pegged out on site and agreed in writing with
the Planning Authority.
5) that the vehicular access shall be formed in accordance with the
requirements set out in the attached schedule.
6) that any earthworks or other interference with or damage to the natural
vegetation of the site shall be minimised and shall be restored prior to any
further development taking place.
7) that the base of any structure on the site shall be at least 5m from any
rock outcrop, any part of the rock outcrop located to the south or east of
the house plot.
8) that no waste materials or spoil arising from the earthworks or construction
shall be dumped or deposited within the vicinity of the house or within the
adjacent site of Special Scientific Interest unless as part of an overall and
cohesive proposal approved by the Planning Authority.
Reasons:
(2-8) In the interests of amenity, nature conservation, and road safety
After hearing from the Applicant, Representatives of Scottish Natural Heritage, Crofters Commission, Grazing Committee, Community Council and officials the following points arose and were noted:-
a) The Canning family original croft house had passed out of their ownership in
1996 although the croft had been inherited by the applicant.
b) that she intended to work the croft and had been attempting to find a
suitable site to obtain planning consent for a number of years.
c) that the land owner was however not expected to grant his consent for
the construction of a property in the location as currently applied for,
although a number of other plots previously identified by the Sanna
Working Group might be acceptable to him.
d) that the applicant had concerns regarding these other sites in terms of
isolation, flooding and removal of static caravans.
e) that the recasting of the 20 existing crofts and common grazing at Sanna
into 4/5 large viable crofts depended upon voluntary co-operation of all the
existing crofters.
After hearing further from the Chairman and the Applicant, it was agreed to adjourn the meeting to a site further west from that applied for, and identified within the Working Groups Re-development Plan as likely to be acceptable to the land owner as a site for croft housing.
Thereafter in noting that the alternative site, was closer to the main part of the housing at Sanna, directly opposite the proposed crofting land and was a site previously indicated that the Land Owner would accept, and after hearing further from the Applicant it was agreed that the current application be DEFERRED on that basis and that the Applicant would make a fresh planning application for the alternative site, and both applications to be determined after the normal, consultation and notification processes had been undertaken.