Agenda item
19/00305/FUL - Residential development of 8 No. dwellings and associated garaging - Yew Tree Farm, St Kenelms Road, Romsley, Halesowen, Worcestershire, B62 0NU - Kendrick Homes Ltd
Minutes:
Officers clarified that the Application had been brought to the Planning Committee for consideration at the request of Councillor M. A. Sherrey, Ward Member.
Officers drew Members’ attention to an amendment to Condition 8, with regard to the Construction Management Plan, as detailed in the published Update Report, copies of which were provided to Members and the public gallery prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Officers highlighted that a previous application for the construction of 7 dwellings on the site was refused by Planning Committee Members in December 2018; due to pedestrian safety and that the proposal did not make the best use of the land and did not provide a good mix of housing. That application was currently at appeal and a decision had not been made.
The proposed application had been re-submitted, with two amendments, in an attempt to overcome the two refusal reasons on the previous application, namely; a reduction in vehicular accesses from St Kenelms Road from 4 to 2 and a change in the mix of dwellings as detailed on page 35 of the main agenda report.
At the invitation of the Chairman Mr. R. Arrowsmith, Chairperson, Romsley Parish Council, addressed the Committee in objection to the Application.
The Committee then considered the Application, which had been recommended for approval by Officers. Having noted all of the information provided by Officers and the representations made on behalf of Romsley Parish Council; Members were mindful that the same concerns had been expressed by local residents and the Parish Council in respect of highway safety and road issues due to the road width and close proximity to the Co-op shop.
Members noted that the public speaker had referred to 750 incidents in the last year that had been recorded in the location.
The Chairman invited the County Council’s Highways Officer to comment and in doing so, he reiterated that the proposed application had been put before a qualified road safety audit and should the application be approved there would be a further stage 2 and 3 road safety audit. The default position would be to only carry out improvements that were deemed necessary.
The County Council’s Highways Officer further informed the Committee that from the information he had before him there were no recorded police incidents in the last year. The last recorded incident was in 2017. The Highways officer confirmed that such specific questions should be brought to officers prior to the meeting to ensure the most up to date information could be provided.
Officers clarified that the applicant had also proposed to increase the footpath width to a minimum 2 metres and had also allocated to Worcestershire Highways a 0.7 metre verge beyond the widened footpath to allow the Highways Authority to make future improvements should it be deemed necessary.
Having considered the Officer’s report and information provided by the public speakers, and having conducted a Site Visit; Members were of the view that the applicant had addressed the previous concerns raised with regard to pedestrian safety, by reducing the number of vehicular accesses and the increase in the number of dwellings which provided more 2 and 3 bed properties.
RESOLVED that Planning Permission be granted with the Conditions as detailed on pages 40 to 43 of the main agenda report, with the following addition to Condition 8:-
8) h. for the submission of details of any temporary construction accesses
and their reinstatement.
Supporting documents:
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