Venue: Hybrid meeting - Zoom - County Hall. View directions
Contact: Carol Johnson 01597826206
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: There were no apologies for absence.
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Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 79 KB To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 22 February 2023 as a correct record. Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2023.
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Rights of Way |
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Declarations of interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to the following items on the agenda. Minutes: Councillor A Davies advised that two locations referred to in the Powys Local Access Forum’s annual report are in her ward.
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Powys Local Access Forum - Annual report 2021-2022 PDF 116 KB The Chair of the Local Access Forum [LAF], Mr Graham Taylor will be in County Hall to present the report. The Council representative on LAF is County Councillor Gareth E Jones. Minutes: The Chair welcomed Mr Graham Taylor Chair, Powys Local Access Forum [LAF], Councillor Gareth E Jones, the Council’s representative on the Forum and Sian Barnes, Professional Lead - Countryside Access & Recreation.
Mr Taylor thanked the Committee for writing to the Minister regarding the funds available to consider public path orders and the need to reduce the bureaucracy associated with these and he noted the response. He thanked the Countryside Access & Recreation Team for their work, which was undertaken with limited resources.
He advised that since his last presentation to the Committee in 2021 the number of outstanding public reports regarding problems with rights of way was now over 10000. The poor state of footpaths negatively impacted on some of the Council’s key priorities: · improving people’s physical and mental health of residents and increasing equality - the state of the network impedes people’s access. · stimulate the visitor economy - many visitors to the area were being put off visiting again as only one third of the routes were accessible. · improving biodiversity - the lack of obvious paths on the ground means people will find a way and may inadvertently damage valuable areas, such as bogs and nesting sites in open areas.
County Councillor K Lewis arrived.
The LAF considered a range of things could be done to transform access to rights of way including such things as: · Other Cabinet members looking at their Portfolios to see what they can do to help improve the situation, such as those who have responsibility for land or property could undertake an audit to see where rights of ways exist and that they ensure they are meeting their responsibilities of keeping these rights of way accessible. · The Committee should ask questions regarding rights of ways when considering planning applications. · Windfarm applications refer to community benefits and these funds could be used for improving rights of ways. · Review the existing references to rights of way in the current Local Development Plan [LDP] to see if they have resulted in the desired effects and include new rights of way provisions in the replacement LDP. · A transformation programme for ROW was needed. · Effective enforcement action was required where landowners were blocking rights of ways. · Utilising the Shared Prosperity Fund to increase signage and waymarks. · Reviweing the criteria used when determining th epriority given to reports of problems with rights of way. · Making use of apprentices.
In response to questions Mr Taylor advised that volunteers could be involved in a range of work. The Professional Lead - Countryside Access & Recreation advised that volunteers would be assisting with the updating of information on the database about the work of volunteers in the field. However, there were confidentiality issues regarding using them to support other work such as helping with Definitive Map Orders [DMOs].
County Councillor E Roderick arrived.
Councillor Gareth E Jones the Council’s representative on the Forum congratulated the small Team for their work. He considered that the number of problems on the footpath network was significantly underreported, the ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Countryside access and rights of way work PDF 142 KB To note the letter sent by the Chair to the Minister, as agreed at the Committee meeting in December 2022 and the Minister’s response. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee noted the correspondence between the Committee Chair, on behalf of the Committee and the Frist Minister, Rural Affairs and North Wales and Trefnydd.
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Planning |
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Declarations of interest a) To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. b) To receive Members' requests that a record be made of their membership of town or community councils where discussion has taken place of matters for the consideration of this Committee. c) To receive declarations from Members of the Committee that they will be acting as 'Local Representative' in respect of an individual application being considered by the Committee. d) To note the details of Members of the County Council (who are not Members of the Committee) who will be acting as 'Local Representative' in respect of an individual application being considered by the Committee. Minutes: (a) There were no declarations of interest.
(b) The Committee noted that no Member requested that a record be made of their membership of a Community Council where discussion had taken place of matters for the consideration of this Committee.
(c) The Committee noted that no Member (who is a member of the Committee) would be acting as ‘local representative’ in respect of any application on the agenda.
(d) The Committee noted that no Member (who is not a member of the Committee) would be speaking as the ‘local representative’ in respect of any application on the agenda.
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Planning applications for consideration by the Committee PDF 54 KB To consider the reports of the Head of Property, Planning and Public Protection and to make any necessary decisions thereon.
Minutes: The Committee considered the report of the Head of Property, Planning and Public Protection (copies filed with the signed minutes).
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Any Updates will be added to the Agenda, as a Supplementary Pack, wherever possible, prior to the meeting. Minutes: The Members confirmed that they had received and had time to read the update circulated the previous day.
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22/1033/FUL Former Motorworld Site, Gas Street, Newtown SY16 2AB PDF 265 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Grid Ref: E: 310979 N: 291595
Valid Date: 14/07/22
Community Council: Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Community Council
Applicant: Mr N Bryant
Location: Former Motorworld Site, Gas Street, Newtown, SY16 2AB
Proposal: Demolition of existing building, erection of a building containing a ground floor retail space and 6 flats above, to include with associated auxiliary spaces and all associated works
Application Type: Full application
Mrs T Davies spoke against the application. Mr G Jones spoke as the Agent.
The Committee noted that this site was a prime brownfield site for development and that it was within the conservation area. The design and impact of the building on the surrounding area was of importance and it was noted that extensive work had been undertaking by the Built Heritage Officer to ensure that a suitable building was forthcoming. However, the Committee noted that the Built Heritage Officer had advised that insufficient regard had been paid of his advice and therefore he recommended refusal. In response to a question the Built Heritage Officer advised that the ridge height elevation on the street was 6m and the proposed height was 13m.
Questions were asked about car parking and the Highways Officer advised that as this was a town centre development, where there was public parking, that on balance no designated parking was required. In response to a question the Built Heritage Officer advised that if the parapet was removed from the design the development would, in principle, be more acceptable. In light of this, it was moved and duly seconded to defer the application to enable the agent and developer to consider the Built Heritage Officer’s advice. This was put to the vote and lost.
It was moved and duly seconded to refuse the application as recommended by the officer.
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22/1342/FUL Fir View Tan y Fridd Caravan Park, Llangyniew, Welshpool, SY21 0LT PDF 241 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Grid Ref: E: 311619 N: 310318
Valid Date: 19/08/22
Community Council: Llangyniew Community Council
Applicant: Sheehan
Location: Fir View, Tan y Fridd Caravan Park, Llangyniew, Welshpool, SY21 0LT
Proposal: Change of use of land to static caravan park, including the installation of 20 static caravans, creation of internal road layout and landscaping
Application Type: Full application
Mr G Watkins spoke on behalf of Llangyniew Community Council. Mr N Jones spoke against the application. Mr G Jones spoke as the Agent.
In response to comments made about the compliance to the conditions in respect of the previous planning permission, the Principal Planning Officer advised that if there were issues, these should be reported and investigated and if appropriate enforcement action would be taken.
In respect of the proposed evacuation route the Principal Planning Officer advised the route was not in the ownership of the applicant but the latter had served notice and followed correct procedures. He advised that the owner of the evacuation route had not raised any objections. The Committee noted this but raised concerns that if the landowner was undertaking tree felling operations, the evacuation route could be blocked and the developer has no control over such events.
Comment was made about the cumulative and visual landscape impact of adding more caravans to the site. The Professional Lead Planning advised member that if they were minded to go against the officer’s recommendation and consider refusing the application, they would need to articulate sound planning reasons for doing so. If they were minded to do this, an alternative was to use a “cooling off” period to consider reasons for refusal and bring this back to the next meeting. He advised that where a developer may not be complying with planning conditions in respect of a previous application, this could not be used as a reason for refusing the current application. The Solicitor advised that if reasons for refusal are weak and unreasonable this would expose the Authority to the risks of cost if the case was lost at appeal.
In response to questions regarding the volume of traffic for the proposed development the Highways Officer advised that there was capacity on the roads for the increase in traffic and the access was acceptable. As a result there were no highways grounds for refusing the application.
The following reasons for refusal were suggested: the cumulative landscape impact of more caravans was detrimental to the landscape and surrounding area and that as the evacuation route was not in the ownership of the developer it could not be operational under all circumstances in accordance with TAN15. The Principal Planning Officer advised that this could be considered as an infill site surrounded by existing caravans and a landscaping plan was included in the conditions.
It was moved and duly seconded to refuse the application contrary to officer’s recommendation and to delegate the wording of the refusal to the Professional Lead Planning in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair.
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To receive for information a list of decisions made by the Head of Property, Planning and Public Protection under delegated powers.
Minutes: The Committee received for information a list of decisions made by the Head of Property, Planning and Public Protection during the period between 14 February 2023 and 8 March 2023.
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To receive the Planning Inspector's decisions regarding appeals.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a copy of the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales letters regarding appeals in respect of the following applications: · Applications 21/1374/HH and 21/1375/CAC - 58 Mill Road, Knighton LD7 1RT. The Committee noted that the Inspector had upheld the appeals. · Application 21/2258/FUL - The Rhos Farm, Kinnerton, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2PD. The Committee noted that the Inspector had dismissed the appeal.
The Chair noted that the Committee had received an email from a member of the public regarding policy TD1 tourism development. The Professional Lead Planning advised that a policy should be read in full, to understand the context, rather than considering just extracts. In addition, a policy should also be considered in context with all policies in the plan. The wording of the policy will be reviewed during the development of the Replacement Local Development Plan.
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