Agenda item

Committee considered a detailed report in relation to the above application, which had been referred to Planning Committee by Councillor Mary Dooley due to concerns regarding noise impacts on neighbouring residential properties.

The application was seeking approval to replace and raise the roof of an industrial building by 3m at 46 Brookhill Road, Pinxton. The primary purpose of the application was to replace the dated asbestos roof and create additional internal storage space without the need to add any additional floor space.

The application site was currently occupied by four entities with the use of the units mostly being for storage and manufacturing. There were also residential gardens of substantial length that back onto the boundary of the site.

Claire Kasro attended the meeting and spoke against the application.

Derbyshire County Council – Highways Authority had confirmed that the proposal would have no detrimental highway impact and therefore raised no objections.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust had requested the submission of a Preliminary Roost Assessment prior to the determination of the application.  Following this it was highlighted that that the building had negligible potential to support roosting bats and no further surveys were required.

The Principal Environmental Health Officer had no objections to the proposal and noted that the replacement roof may offer a betterment in terms of noise breakout and reduce impacts on neighbours.

One representation objecting to the development had been received following site notices and neighbour notification letters, this was detailed within the officer report.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that the application be APPROVED subject to the following conditions:

1.     The development shall be begun before the expiration of three years from the date of this permission.

2.     The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved drawings and documents unless specifically stated otherwise in the conditions of this consent:

·       Site Location Plan and Block Plan received 9th March 2023

·       Revised Proposed Elevations and Roof Plan with area of Solar Panels - drg no DF/NS/PE2 received 20th April 2023

·       Existing and Proposed Ground Floor Plan - drg no DF/NS/F1

·       Proposed Ground Floor - drg DF/NS/PF2

·       Solar Panel Specification by QCells received 20th April 2023

·       Cladding Specification received 20th April 2023

3.      The external elevations and roof of the development shall be clad with the cladding specification by Tata steel in black and off-white and with the solar modules specification received 20th April 2023. Any variation to the external materials shall be first submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority prior to installation and then installed fully in accordance with the approved details. Once installed the external materials shall be maintained in perpetuity.

4.      Prior to commencement of use of the hereby approved development, evidence that an integrated or external universal bird box / brick has been provided as a form of biodiversity enhancement shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.  Once installed the approved bird box / brick shall be maintained in perpetuity.

5.      The hereby approved development shall be undertaken fully in accordance with the tree protection measures contained in the Arboricultural Implication Study and Method Statement, Tree Constraints and Protection Plan prepared by J.A.G. Arboricultural Consultancy dated June 2023.

Statement of Decision Process

Officers have worked positively and pro-actively with the applicant which has been demonstrated through agreeing necessary extension of time agreements to secure amended plans and enabling the submission of additional information including an arboricultural report and preliminary roost assessment. The proposal has been considered against the policies and guidelines adopted by the Council in the Adopted Local Plan and the decision has been taken in accordance with the guidelines of the Framework.

Equalities Statement

Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 places a statutory duty on public authorities in the exercise of their functions to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (i.e. “the Public Sector Equality Duty”).

In this case, there is no evidence to suggest that the development proposals would have any direct or indirect negative impacts on any person with a protected characteristic or any group of people with a shared protected characteristic.

Human Rights Statement

The specific Articles of the European Commission on Human Rights (‘the ECHR’) relevant to planning include Article 6 (Right to a fair and public trial within a reasonable time), Article 8 (Right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence), Article 14 (Prohibition of discrimination) and Article 1 of Protocol 1 (Right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions and protection of property).

It is considered that assessing the effects that a proposal will have on individuals and weighing these against the wider public interest in determining whether development should be allowed to proceed is an inherent part of the decision-making process. In carrying out this ‘balancing exercise’ in the above report, officers are satisfied that the potential for these proposals to affect any individual’s (or any group of individuals’) human rights has been addressed proportionately and in accordance with the requirements of the ECHR.

Having previously declared her interest in the following item of business, Councillor Carol Wood left the meeting.