Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Chris Kane and John Ritchie.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business to be considered at the meeting.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 10^th June 2026.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that the minutes of a meeting of the Planning Committee held on 10^th June 2026 be approved as a true and correct record.

Committee considered a report in relation to the above application presented by the Principal Planner, who gave details of the application and highlighted the locations and features of the site and key issues.  The application had been referred to the Committee for determination, in accordance with the scheme of delegation contained within the Council’s constitution, due to the number of representations received from individual households following the Committee’s overturn of the officer’s recommendation of refusal.

The supplementary document detailed site visit attendance along with further representations received and officer responses.

The Development Management and Land Charges Manager explained that should Members be minded to approve the application, that in addition to the recommended conditions in precis form and any further conditions recommended by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (DWT), any decision would also need to include the conditions recommended by the Local Highway Authority

Mollie Arif (the Agent) spoke in favour of the application and Reuben Spears (the applicant) was also present to answer questions.

Concern was raised on the potential for Anti-social Behaviour with regards the proposed footpath from Blacksmith’s Court, Glapwell, and whether any specific measures could be taken to prevent the use of two-wheeled high-speed vehicles.  Mollie Arif informed all prevention measures could be considered through condition if the application was approved by the Committee.

Concern was raised regarding the proposed method for surface water run-off and its maintenance in perpetuity.  The Committee was informed Severn Trent could adopt the system through a Section 104 agreement or through a resident’s management company.

Concern was raised for the residents on Park Avenue, Glapwell with regard to it being the current sole access point for all construction traffic.  The Committee was informed the site was primarily land locked by the surrounding privately owned land, however there was an agricultural access off Mansfield Road, Glapwell that could be utilised.  It was advised that the route of construction traffic would be consideration in respect of the recommended condition to agree a construction management plan.

A Member expressed concern with the comments made by a Derbyshire County Councillor in the consultation comments received, implying that occupiers of social housing would be problematic in some way.  Later in the meeting, another Member noted 5 of the proposed social housing properties met the 10% social housing allocation within the Council’s Local Plan and that the sixth would be purchased by the Council for the logical necessity of the proposed social housing units being semi-detached.

Concern was raised regarding the local bat population during the construction phase and following the proposed development’s completion.  The Principal Planner informed that with the intended retention of the highly developed tree line along the boundary of the site, the local bat population would retain its current habitat, though a response from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust was awaited on this.

Moved by Councillor Phil Smith and seconded by Councillor Duncan McGregor

RESOLVED that following the approval of the Landscape and Biodiversity Enhancement and Management and Construction Environmental Management Plans (LBEMP and CEMP)  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL11-26/27

The Development Management and Land Charges Manager presented the report to the Committee.

A review had been undertaken from March 2026 to June 2026 into the Council’s procedure for advertising planning applications in the press to ensure the Council was making effective, cost-efficient use of its resources when publicising planning applications.

At the time of the meeting, the Council published press notices for qualifying applications shortly after registration.  Notices were placed in local newspapers depending on the location of the development (incl. the Derbyshire Times, Mansfield Chad and Worksop Guardian) with the process administered on behalf of the Council by Derbyshire County Council.

The Council had allocated an annual budget of £36,000 for press advertisements, with each advertisement typically costing between £300 and £800 (dependant on the publication and the size of the advertisement).

Analysis had identified that between 2023 and 2025, approximately 50 advertisements were placed in the press each calendar year, and this relatively low volume reflected the limited number of applications that fell within the statutory categories requiring newspaper publication.

The analysis had additionally highlighted the potential inefficiency of the current approach, where often large and single notices were placed in the press.

The Council’s current practice was to not advertise developments that represented a departure from the provisions of the development plan at the point of registration – only where such development was likely to be supported / approved by the Committee would such publicity be undertaken, which could result in determination delays.

Benchmarking with other lower-tier local authorities had been made, identifying a consistent approach of consolidating planning applications into a single press advertisement, enabling cost-efficiency savings.

The adoption of a similar approach (reducing the amount of information published within a single notice and publishing on a 2-week cycle) would reduce the number of advertisements required annually, reduce the size and cost of individual advertisements, and enable more efficient use of the allocated budget.

It was noted in the report that maintaining the existing arrangement with Derbyshire County Council would likely remain advantageous as it enabled access to significant discounts that may not be otherwise available and maintain established working relationships and administrative processes.

The review had identified clear opportunities to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the Council’s approach to advertising planning applications in the press.

The review confirmed that while the Council’s current procedures complied with

statutory requirements, there was significant scope to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

By adopting similar approaches already in use by other lower-tier local authorities and maintaining existing partnerships, the Council could deliver a more streamlined, cost-effective and responsive planning service.

To a question on whether review of the proposed approach would continue and consideration be given to utilising a marketing company, the Development Management and Land Charges Manager informed that this would be kept under review, though current arrangements remained both cost effective and, as the report confirmed, maintained the established working relationships and administrative processes with Derbyshire County Council.  It was confirmed that any further changes would  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL12-26/27

The Development Management and Land Charges Manager presented the report to the Committee.

In November 2016 (updated December 2024), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government produced guidance, entitled “Improving Planning Performance”, which included guidance on speed of Planning decisions and Quality of Planning Decisions.

The measure to be used was the percentage of the total number of decisions made by the authority on applications that were then subsequently overturned at appeal.  This was set at 10%.

The latest monitoring period was January 2026 – June 2026, and the Council had received no appeals on major planning applications and 3 appeal decisions on nonmajor planning applications – 2 appeals were dismissed and 1 allowed.  However, this only equated to 1.41% of the number of non-major applications determined within this period.

A full summary of the decisions made was within the report.

The lack of appeals generally against planning decisions taken indicated that current decision making was sound and the Council’s performance in successfully defending decisions at appeal was good.

It was recommended that the appeal performance and the report be noted and that the Committee continued to be briefed on appeal decisions and performance on an ongoing 6-monthly basis to ensure the Council met and exceeded the UK Government target.

A Member noted that the Council’s performance in successfully defending decisions was the result of appropriate officer decisions, recommendations and Member determinations.

A Member thanked the officers for their care, dedication and maintaining a high level of service.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that: 1) the quality of decision making / appeal performance and report be noted; and,

2)    appeal decisions continue to be reported to Committee members every 6 months.

The Development Management and Land Charges Manager presented the report to the Committee.

The Local Enforcement Plan (the ‘Plan’) had been adopted by the Committee in 2019 (refreshed in May 2022 and September 2025) and established the service standards that Planning Enforcement Officers would consider to be specific, measurable, achievable and realistic.

During January 2026 – June 2026, 148 unauthorised activity enquiries had been received, up 23% on the previous 6-month review period.  1 enquiry was a high priority case raised by officers and was investigated / visited on the same date (following investigation, a revised Listed Building Consent application was invited).

17 medium priority and 130 low priority cases were additionally received – 100% of these were visited within the target period as set out in the Local Enforcement Plan (this figure included recent cases received which were yet to be visited though still fell within the target investigation period).

Of the 17 medium priority cases, 8 were pending consideration with 9 resolved / closed (100% of all investigations / visits had begun within 2-weeks).

Out of the 130 low priority cases, 26 were at the time of the writing of the report pending consideration with 104 resolved / closed (100% of all investigations / visits had begun within the 6-week target investigation period, with only 2 cases awaiting investigation / visit).

The statistics highlighted exemplary performance from the department’s dedicated Enforcement Officer, who currently undertook the initial investigations / visits for all new enquiries received.

It was noted that significant progress had been made on resolving enquiries and historic cases.

During January 2026 – June 2026, 5 enforcement notices had been served (further details were in the report).

A Member recommended that all Members of the Council be encouraged to report any potential unauthorised developments within their Wards.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Tom Munro

RESOLVED that: 1)the report be noted; and,

2)    the planning department’s performance against the service standards in the Local Enforcement Plan and updates on planning enforcement continue to be reported to Planning Committee on a half-yearly basis.

The Principal Planning Policy Officer presented the report to the Committee to update Members on housing land supply and to approve the publication of the Council’s Annual Position Statement on the 5-Year Housing Land Supply as at 1^st April 2026 for the period 2026/27 to 2030/31.

The Officer outlined the components of the 5-Year Housing Land Supply and that the Council had a housing land supply of 4.82 years, resulting in the Council not currently being able to demonstrate a 5-Year Housing Land Supply of deliverable sites for the period 2026/27 to 2030/31.

A Member noted the Council had been consistently overperforming and asked if this had any weighting on the Council’s determination of future developments within the District.  The Senior Devolution Lead for Planning Policy, Strategic Growth and Housing set out that the UK Government placed an emphasis on the need to significantly boost the supply of housing and, in general terms, this meant that past delivery was not taken into account in arriving at the 5-Year Housing Land Supply.

It was added that a shortfall of 71 dwellings was a small margin and highlighted that this was in part due to the delay in the delivery of the Clowne Garden Village development (following the ongoing Judicial Review challenge and the delays on the delivery of the former Whitwell Colliery site).

The UK Government’s insufficient number of Planning Inspectors was noted by the Committee.

Moved by Councillor Catherine Tite and seconded by Councillor Duncan McGregor

RESOLVED that the Planning Committee: 1) Notes the detailed issues set out in the report including that the Council anticipated “Five Year Housing Land Supply” has been assessed at 4.82 years with has the implications set out in the report;

2)    Approves the assessment of the Council’s Annual Position Statement of Five-Year Housing Land Supply 2026 as set out at Appendix 1;

3)    Authorises the publication of the Annual Position Statement of Five-Year Housing Land Supply (Appendix 1) and List of Major Development Sites and their contribution to the Council’s Five-Year Housing Land Supply (Appendix 2) on the Council’s website; and,

4)    Gives delegated authority to the Interim Strategic Director: Economic Growth, in consultation with the Chair of Planning Committee, to make any appropriate changes to the assessment, assumptions and process as necessary to take account of new government guidance, case law, best practice and valid stakeholder comments.

The Chair thanked all those in attendance.