West Drive Development
(You can see the details of this application on the Council Planning Portal here )
This application was on the agenda of 14th April planning meeting. The design of the development had addressed the concerns of the Inspector who dismissed on appeal the previous application in March 2018 for 9 houses on the site. The number of homes on the site been reduced to 7 and by design they were 6 chalet bungalows and a bungalow. The height of these are somewhat lower than the houses in the original application and the land also slopes away from West Drive which further reduces their dominance.
However, we still had concerns about the impact on the road during the construction process and had conditions added to the recommendation for approval of the scheme to ensure that any damage to the verges incurred during the build be repaired. With photographic evidence capturing their condition prior to commencement.We have suggested to residents, through the road steward, that residents take their own dated photographs at the outset too.
We were also concerned about an unusual condition in the application which called for parking restrictions to be put in place on the road, around the bell mouth of the new development and some distance along both sides of the road to ensure that larger traffic leaving the site could do that safely without being hampered by parked cars.
During the meeting this condition was challenged as it seemed to go against the process that is laid done for the introduction of parking restrictions. The planners acknowledged this and the application will be approved subject to this condition being reviewed and the revised wording being referred to ward councillors.
The new wording of this condition, says that the parking restrictions have to be agreed, by the normal process, before construction on the site can commence. This application was approved subject to these conditions.
A summary of the application, including the additional conditions can be seen on pages 3 to 5 of the Addendum to the Planning Committe Meeting.