Minutes of a Meeting
of Loddon Parish Council
held in The Library Annexe
on Wednesday 28 October 2009 at 7.00pm
Present: Councillors Jane Hale, Michael Roe, Angela Gibson, Rod Williams, Bruce Corke, Margaret Wallace, Roy Cooper and Judith Gray.
Also present were Christine Smith (clerk), Karen Read (RFO) and County Councillor Adrian Gunson.
29 members of the public also attended.
110. Apologies were received from and accepted from Cllrs Linda Wilson (illness), Sarah Morris (on holiday) and Dorothy Jones (family commitments).
111. Declarations of Interest - none
112. Planning Applications - The council considered the following planning application:
a) 2009/1567 - Taylor Wimpey, Ex-Press Plastics site, Beccles Road, Loddon - proposed erection of 112 new 'private' dwellings with associated parking and open spaces
The Chairman gave some background information on the application and explained that on the day of the meeting the council had been informed that the application had been amended from a 'reserve matters' to a 'full' application. As a result of this, the previously secured Section 106 Agreement would not apply to this application.
It was proposed that the meeting should be adjourned for public participation; this was AGREED and the meeting was adjourned at 7.10pm and reconvened at 7.40pm.
After discussion the council AGREED TO RECOMMEND REFUSAL of the application on the following grounds:
1. The applicant was not proposing to contribute to infrastructure costs or provide any affordable housing. Many resources in Loddon were felt to currently be stretched to, and in some cases beyond, capacity eg sewerage, schools, car parking, traffic levels, medical facilities and recreational facilities. The parish council would not support any building of new houses that would fail to make any contribution to the increase in demand it will make to the local infrastructure. The application was clearly in contravention of the policies of South Norfolk Council and the parish council would urge SNC not to compromise on these important issues. If the applicant had concerns about the financial viability of the scheme the parish council urged SNC to base any decisions purely on development costs and not take into account the price that was paid for the land as this was bought at the developer's own risk when market conditions were buoyant.
2. The parish council considered that the proposed density of the site was too high as PPS3 allows for the density to be in keeping with the local environment and a figure much closer to 30 houses per hectare was considered to be more appropriate.
As these two points were fundamental, the parish council would not comment at this stage on the detailed layout proposals as these would be considered when an amended application was submitted.
Among the points raised about layout were the viability and positioning of the single site access, the inclusion of three-storey houses, disabled access and environmental building practices.
The parish council and many local residents raised serious concerns about the quality and speed of communication relating to this application.
Many residents had not been informed of the latest submission and the parish council had not been included in any pre-submission discussions.
113. Date of Next Meeting - meeting confirmed as Thursday 12 November 2009 at 7pm in the Library Annexe.
The formal meeting ended at 7.50pm