Agenda and draft minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor 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 December 2025.

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Sally Renshaw

RESOLVED that the minutes of a meeting of the Planning Committee held on 10^th December 2025 be approved as a true and correct record.

Committee considered a report in relation to the above application presented by the Development Management and Land Charges Manager, who gave details of the application and highlighted the location and features of the site and key issues.  The application sought approval for the erection of 6 dwellings.  The application had been referred to the Committee by Councillor John Ritchie for reasons outlined in the report.

A site visit had taken place with details provided in the supplementary agenda – Councillor Catherine Tite was incorrectly stated to have attended the site visit.  This was acknowledged as a mistake and the record amended accordingly.

A statement was read out on behalf of Councillor John Ritchie in favour of the application.

Stuart Hill (the applicant) spoke in favour of the application.

Members sought clarification on the design, access road, sustainability of location in terms of access to public transport and ownership of adjacent land.

Comments relating to the appearance of the proposals, the landscaping, and the understanding of feeling of concern of neighbouring settlements converging were also made

Giving weight to the remnants of a farmstead, including a dwelling that had occupied the site, Members concluded that the proposed development would not detract from the openness, character and appearance of this part of the countryside and put a motion on the table to approve the application, contrary to the officer recommendation.  Recognising that such a decision would constitute a technical departure from the policies contained within the Development Plan, it was advised that the application should be advertised as such in the press and that delegated authority would need to be given to officers to approve the application with conditions to cover the issues raised by consultees and the design aspirations of Members, on the proviso that no further representations from the public were received as a result of the publicity.  If comments were received, it was agreed that the application would be returned to the Committee for further consideration.  Members accepted this advice and voted on the motion.

5 in favour

3 against

1 abstain

Moved by Councillor Steve Fritchley and seconded by Councillor Chris Kane

RESOLVED that delegated approval be given to the Development Management and     Land Charges Manager and Principal Planners to grant planning permission with     conditions to cover all matters raised, and conditions recommended by consultees,   following advertisement of the application in the press as a departure from the         development plan and subject to no further comments being received.  Should     representations be received as a result of the publicity undertaken, the item would           be referred back to planning committee for further consideration.

Councillor Rob Hiney-Saunders left the meeting at 10:52 hours.

Committee considered a report in relation to the above application presented by the Development Management and Land Charges Manager, who gave details of the application and highlighted the location and features of the site and key issues.  The application sought approval to make more than minor changes to obligations imposed on an earlier permission granted by the Committee and, as such, was not a matter that could be delegated to officers in accordance with the Council’s scheme of delegation contained within its constitution.

In objecting to the proposals, Councillors Anne Clarke and Rowan Clarke also requested that the matter be heard and a decision taken by the Committee.

Details on the changes sought were detailed in the report.

Dominic Webb spoke via Microsoft Teams against the application.

Nick Clarke spoke against the application.

Paul Bulter (the Agent) spoke in favour of the application.

Clarifications were sought on whether an Equality Impact Assessment had been undertaken and the calculations used to determine the updated Section 106 contributions.  The Agent explained how the updated Section 106 contributions had been calculated. The Development Management and Land Charges Manager advised that the equality impacts of the proposed modifications formed an integral part of the assessment of whether the obligations in their modified form would continue to serve the purposes of the original obligations equally well.

It was noted the original Section 106 obligations had been calculated in 2017.

It was reiterated the number of properties proposed had fallen from 950 to 811.

For the land allocated to the provision of an extra care facility, the Committee was informed that existing provisions allowed for the land to be provided as an extra care facility and / or affordable housing in circumstances where a provider could not be found.

Planning Officers, Derbyshire County Council and the developer were thanked for their hard work and respective due diligence on the application.

6 in favour

1 against

1 abstain

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that application no. 25/00433/OTHER to modify the S106 agreement dated 22^nd September 2021 be APPROVED to secure £5,235,408.84 (plus any further            indexation where relevant) towards the following:

• Elmton Lane Contribution – £104,638
• New School Contribution – £3,528,988
• Road Network Contribution (per plot) – £335,046
• Primary Education Contribution – £712,598.78
• Secondary Education Contribution – £554,138.06

and to reduce the town park land area to 3.6ha and the extra care facility land to 0.8ha and extend the current clawback provisions / periods and scope of the contributions in favour of the education authority (land and financial contributions), with all other outstanding financial contributions to be deferred following viability review at an appropriate stage(s) in the future build out.

Committee considered a report in relation to the above application presented by the Principal Planner, who gave details of the application and highlighted the location and features of the site and key issues. The application was deferred from the Committee’s previous meeting to enable the applicant and Derbyshire County Council (DCC) to discuss an agreeable solution to the potential developer contributions and allow DCC to commission their own viability appraisal in respect of the linked request to modify the obligations contained in the legal agreement associated with outline permission 14/00080/OUTEA.

Details on further submissions / representations were detailed in the supplementary agenda.

There were no further changes to the recommendations of the report.

Councillor Tom Munro left the meeting at 11:49 hours.

Paul Bulter (the Agent) spoke in favour of the application.

Clarifications were sought on the provision of solar panels on properties, the number of bungalows, and the provision of allotments / green spaces.

7 in favour

0 against

Moved by Councillor Steve Fritchley and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that application no. 25/00069/REM be APPROVED following the completion    of a DoV linked to the request under application 25/00433/OTHER and subject to           the following conditions, which are provided below draft form, with the final wording          to be agreed by the Development Management and Land Charges Manager and          the Principal Planners:

Conditions

1. Unless otherwise required and/or approved under other conditions of this consent, or conditions of outline planning permission 14/00080/OUTEA that are still to be complied with, the development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved drawings and documents:-

Documents submitted with the original reserved matters application:-

·       House Type Pack (Persimmon)

·       GTC-E-SS-0012-R2 1 OF 1 - Strata - Close Coupled Substation Pyramid Roof Detail General Arrangement

Documents submitted 08/08/2025:-

·       House Type Pack (Stancliffe Homes)

Documents submitted 08/10/2025:-

·       P2612 - V - 1001 REV B - Visibility Splays and Forward Visibility in Line With 20mph Speed Limit

·       P2612 - V - 1002 REV B - Visibility Splays and Forward Visibility in Line With 20mph Speed Limit

Documents submitted 16/10/2025:-

·       P24-1323_EN_001H - Town Park Landscape Masterplan

·       P24-1323_EN_002G - Town Park Detailed Hard and Soft Landscape Proposals

·       P24-1323_EN_003F - Wider Site Landscape Masterplan  

·       P24-1323_EN_004F - Hedgerow Plan  

·       P24-1323_EN_005B - Longlands Welbeck Rd Landscape Proposals

·       P24-2401_DE_015_S - Planning Layout (Stancliffe) 

·       P24-2401_DE_016_G - Materials Plan (Stancliffe)

·       P24-2401_DE_017_F - Boundary Treatments Plan (Stancliffe)

·       P24-2401_DE_025_R - Planning Layout (Persimmon)

·       P24-2401_DE_026_F - Materials Plan (Persimmon) 

·       P24-2401_DE_035_E - Key Dimensions 

·       HTP-V01 - Strata Updated House Type Pack July 2025

Documents submitted 30/10/2025:-

·       P24-2401_DE_003_N - Composite Masterplan (B&W)

·       P24-2401_DE_003_N - Composite Masterplan (Colour)

·       P24-2401_DE_005_W - Planning Layout (Strata)

·       P24-2401_DE_006_F - Materials Plan (Strata)

·       P24-2401_DE_007_F - Boundary Treatments Plan (Strata)

·       P24-2401_DE_027_F - Boundary Treatments Plan (Persimmon)

·       P24-2401_DE_028_F - Composite Materials Plan

·       P24-2401_DE_029_E - Composite Boundary Treatments

·       P24-2401_DE_032_E - Management Plan

·       P24-2401_DE_033_F - Highways Adoption Plan

·       P24-2401_DE_041_B - Highways Materials Plan

Document submitted 04/11/2025:-

·       BOL2-ELCD-001 Rev. A - Elmton Lane Crossing Detail

Documents submitted 20/11/2025:-

·       Revised spine road delivery plan.

·       Revised spine road delivery programme.  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL64-25/26

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

Within the latest reporting period, from July 2025 to December 2025, the Council had no appeals on major planning applications and 3 appeal decisions on non-major applications – 1 was dismissed and 2 were allowed, equating to 1.43% of the number of non-major applications determined within this period (below the 10% threshold).

1 appeal decision was also made against the refusal to grant prior approval for the erection of a forestry building – this was dismissed.

The assessment period for the quality of decisions was 2 years up to and including the most recent quarter for which data on planning application decisions are available.  No appeals had been made in respect of applications for major development over this period and only 6 appeals against decisions to refuse planning permission for non-major development had been allowed.  This comprises only 1.02% of the total number of decisions on applications for such development, far exceeding the government target for no more than 10% of decisions being allowed at appeal.

The lack of appeals generally against decisions taken by the Committee indicated current decision making was sound and the Council’s performance in successfully defending decisions at appeal was deemed good, with 60% of the total number of appeals received being dismissed.

It was recommended that the appeal performance and the report be noted and that members continued to be briefed on appeal decisions and performance on

an ongoing 6 monthly basis to learn from the decisions made and ensure quality of decision-making met and exceeded UK Government targets.

The Council’s and Committee’s performance were noted.

Officers were thanked for the report.

Moved by Councillor Steve Fritchley 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.

From 1^st July 2025 to 31^st December 2025, 120 unauthorised activity enquiries were received (down 10% on the previous 6 month review):

• 2 were high priority cases raised by officers as part of survey work undertaken and, as such, which were both visited and / or investigated within a 24-hour period.
• 20 were medium priority; and,
• 98 were low priority cases.

For the medium and low priority cases, 99% of cases were visited within the target period set out in the Plan – this excluded 2 recent cases received which had not yet been visited.

This represented high performance and was a slight improvement on the previous 6-month reporting period.

Of the 20 medium priority cases, 5 were currently pending consideration and 15 had been resolved and / or closed – investigations had begun on 19 out of the 20 cases within 2 weeks (95%).

Of the 98 low priority cases, 23 were currently pending consideration and 73 had been resolved and / or closed – all low priority cases (100%) had been investigated and / or visited within the 6-week target set out in the Plan, with only 2 recent cases awaiting a visit and / or investigation.

Site visit performance was overall very high from the Planning Team’s dedicated Enforcement Officer, who currently undertook visits and carried out initial investigations for all new enquiries received.

Of the sole remaining cases open 2020 – 2022, Enforcement Notices had been served and were either subject of appeal or being monitored by officers.

During the review period, 4 Enforcement Notices had been served (details of which were set out in the report).

A high number of planning applications had been received on the back of action taken and there had been instances of voluntary compliance to regularise breaches of planning control without the need to take formal action.

Success was also reported with regard to securing developer contributions owing in respect of the Chesterfield Road, Barlborough development (Hawthorne Meadows) following the application and issuing of an Interim Injunction by the High Court in September 2024.  This had resulted in the submission and approval of a DoV application and payment of all developer contributions owed and a plan for the delivery of the open space and affordable housing during the review period.

An update was provided on application no. 17/00640/OUT.

Moved by Councillor Catherine Tite and seconded by Councillor Steve Fritchley

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.