Minutes of Meeting of the Planning Review Body held in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 28 January 2010 at 10.30 am.
Present:
Mr W Ross, Dr A Sinclair, Mrs I Campbell, Ms M Smith, Mr R Durham, Mrs I McCallum, Mr H Wood, Mr K Macleod, Mr D Fallows
In Attendance:
Ms M Morris, Assistant Chief Executive, Mr S Black, Director of Planning and Development, Mr R Hartland, Head of Planning and Building Standards, Mrs K Lyons, Principal Solicitor (Clerk), Mr P Adams, Solicitor, Miss A Macrae, Administrator
Mr W Ross in the Chair
Business
1. Introduction
The Chairman welcomed all parties to the first meeting of the Review Body. By way of introduction he outlined the remit of the Review Body in dealing with local scale applications determined under delegated powers by planning officers, where there had been refusal of planning permission, the applicant had been dissatisfied with conditions attached to grant of planning permission, or against non-determination of an application. Previously such applications would have been dealt with by the Scottish Government’s Reporter’s Unit.
The Chairman advised that the review process would be conducted in an open and transparent manner. Members could not participate in the determination of a review located in their ward, and any discussions held in private would not consider any matters not already raised in public. The decisions of the Review Body would be taken in public.
2. Review Body Hearings Procedure
There was circulated a draft Review Body Hearings Procedure.
The Review Body APPROVED the hearings procedure.
3. Notices of Review Determined
3.1 Change of Use to Guesthouse at Taradale, 1 Caberfeidh, Fassifern Road, Fort William for Mairi Maclean 09/00064/RBRCON (RB-01-10)
There had been circulated Notice of Review No. RB 09/00064/RBRCON in relation to a condition imposed on the consent for the change of use to guesthouse at Taradale, 1 Caberfeidh, Fassifern Road, Fort William for Mairi Maclean.
The Chair asked for confirmation that it was competent for the Review Body to determine the review application.
The Clerk confirmed that this was a local application determined by the appointed officer and that the Notice of Review had been lodged within the three month statutory period. The Notice of Review was therefore competent.
Responding to questions, the Chairman clarified that at this stage of the review process, if Members considered that they required further information in relation to the review, then they should agree by which procedure i.e. written submissions, hearing and/or site visit that this information should be obtained.
Following discussion, Members agreed that all their requirements for information had been met, and proceeded to determine the Notice of Review.
The Clerk provided a factual overview of the application and explained that the appointed officer had granted planning permission, subject to conditions. Condition 2 attached to the permission stated that the existing integral owner’s accommodation shall always be linked to the main house by means of an internal door or corridor connection and it must not be physically separated from the letting accommodation. The reason given for the condition was that sub-division of the guest house and owner’s accommodation would require a separate planning consent, and raised issues not assessed during the determination of the application.
The applicant’s agent had indicated that condition 2 attached to the grant of planning permission was unreasonable in requiring that the main house and owners accommodation always to be linked by an internal door or similar given that the two parts of the property were not presently linked internally.
The Review Body was advised that the appointed officer had confirmed that condition 2 had been attached to the planning permission in error. The planning application lodged sought to formalise a long established use of the property as a guest house, and was not considered to be contrary to the relevant policies of the Highland Structure Plan 2001 (G1, G2 and T2) or the Lochaber Local Plan, and no material considerations indicated that the application should be refused.
Following discussion the Review Body AGREED to delete condition 2 attached to the planning permission.
Thereafter it was confirmed that the only determining issue that remained was whether it was considered appropriate to attach an alternative condition to the planning permission in substitution for condition 2. The appointed officer had suggested that the following condition should be attached in substitution for condition 2:
“The basement flat of the guest house hereby approved shall be used either as:
(a) holiday letting accommodation, operated by the owner of the guest house
known as Taradale, 1 Caberfeidh, Fort William, and shall not be occupied by
any one family, individual or group for more than 3 months in any one
calendar year; or
(b) as owner’s accommodation for the owner of the guesthouse known as
Taradale, 1 Caberfeidh, Fort William.
The reason given for the condition was that ownership of the basement flat for a duration longer than three months or to separate the basement flat from the guesthouse would give rise to issues not considered in the determination of the application, principally amenity concerns, and that it would be a departure from the established use of the building that the application sought to regularise.
The applicant’s agent had suggested that a condition could be attached in substitution for condition 2 on the basis that either the flat not be disposed of separate to the guest house or, if the Review Body was minded to apply an occupancy restriction, that the maximum occupancy period be increased to 6 months. The justification given was that under the current ownership the flat had been used as temporary homeless accommodation as well as for holiday letting.
Following discussion of the alternatives put forward by the appointed officer and the applicant’s agent, the Review Body AGREED not to impose a condition restricting the occupancy of the flat on the grounds that doing so would restrict the uses that the flat could be let for at a time when there was a need for low cost/affordable accommodation in the Fort William area and noting that the applicant had, in the past, rented the flat as temporary homeless accommodation as well as for holiday lets. This consideration was considered to override the appointed officer’s concerns regarding the amenity offered to a long term lessee of the flat.
Decision
The Review Body therefore AGREED that the planning application 09/00321/FULLO be granted subject to the following condition:
1. The use hereby approved allows for the letting of up to and including three
bedrooms for guest accommodation on any one night.
REASON: For clarification of the use level hereby approved.