Agenda item

Erection of 75 dwellings

The Committee considered a report of the Senior Planning Officer regarding the erection of 75 dwellings at the site of former Chamerlain Phipps Coatings, Catkin Way, Bishop Auckland (for copy see file of minutes).

The Planning Officer gave a detailed presentation of the application which included a site location plan, aerial view of the site, various photographs of the site and proposed site plan.

The Applicant, Mr C Dodds, spoke in support of the application and made reference to the Highways objection.  Mr Dodds did not support the rationale behind the request for a £241k contribution to provide mitigation measures

Tindale Crescent.  The contribution was effectively penalising the Applicant for the impact caused by other developments in the area.  An alternative contribution had been offered for mitigation and Mr Dodds considered £40-60k to be proportionate to the proposals and this would not prevent further mitigation should other developments come forward.

Finally, Mr Dodds considered the regeneration of a brownfield site would be more beneficial to the area and the alternative was that it could be left derelict if the application was not approved.

The Chairman agreed that the junction was at full capacity and in his opinion, the contributions offered were insignificant.

Councillor Martin considered an objection from Highways as sufficient enough to refuse the application.  Councillor Shuttleworth added that it was important to secure contributions from the developer towards road improvement works and moved the recommendation to refuse.  Councillor Clare also agreed and considered a Highways objection to warrant refusal, therefore seconded the recommendation to refuse.

Resolved:

That the application be REFUSEDfor the reasons outlined in the report.