Minutes:
The Committee received the Head
of Planning’s Report No. PLN1548 which requested authority for the Council to
complete a Section 106 legal agreement in relation to the Ham and Blackbird
site at No. 281 Farnborough Road, Farnborough.
The Committee was reminded
that permission had been refused by the Development Management Committee in
January, 2015 for the demolition and redevelopment of the Ham and Blackbird
site at No. 281 Farnborough Road. Permission had been refused for reasons relating
to the impact of traffic movement on highway safety and the local network,
failure to secure Section 106 contributions (towards special area protection
mitigation and public open space) and failure to provide appropriate provision
of affordable housing (as set out in full in the Head of Planning’s Report).
The applicants had subsequently
lodged an appeal which was due to be heard on 9th December, 2015 and the
Committee was advised that, in preparation for the appeal, the applicants and
the Council would need to prepare a ‘Statement of Common Ground’ to identify to
the Inspector those issues on which there was no dispute. The applicants had
indicated that they intended to submit a draft Section 106 agreement to the
Inspector at the hearing in order to address the reasons for refusal that
related to failure to secure Section 106 contributions.
In respect of the failure of
the proposal to provide affordable housing, the applicants had agreed to make
provision to meet the Council’s requirement in full (22 units (35%) of the
total number of units). In this respect the applicants were proposing that
eleven affordable units would be provided in the scheme and, at the request of
the Head of Environmental Health and Housing, a financial contribution would be
secured equivalent to the cost to the developer of providing the remaining
eleven units within the scheme. This would provide affordable housing off-site
that would be more appropriate to meeting local housing needs. Although subject
to discussion relating to the value of the contribution, should agreement be
reached on this matter, this financial contribution would also need to be
secured by the Section 106 agreement.
The applicants had approached
the Solicitor to the Council to request that work be undertaken with the
Council to produce a draft Section 106 Agreement seeking to address the Reasons
for Refusal Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Authority was therefore being sought from the
Development Management Committee for the Head of Planning, in consultation with
the Solicitor to the Council to prepare the necessary draft Section 106
Agreement to address these matters.
The Committee was assured that
this work would not affect the Council’s position in relation to Reason for
Refusal No. 1 as set out in the Head of Planning’s Report, but would remove the
need for the Council to defend Reason for Refusal Nos. 2, 3 and 4 at the
forthcoming appeal hearing.
RESOLVED: That the Head of Planning, in consultation with the Solicitor to the Council, be authorised to complete a legal agreement to address the impacts of the development as identified in Reasons for Refusal Nos. 2, 3 and 4 as set out in detail in Report No. PLN1501 considered by the Development Management Committee on 7th January, 2015.