Planning Appraisal Group - TrustNews Sept 11
The past few months have been fairly quiet as far as major developments are concerned, although there has been the usual steady flow of house extensions (front, side, rear and on the roof), conservatories, and altered shop fronts and signs.
An exception to this trend is currently being considered at the New Queen’s Head, Stanmore Lane, where Bargate Homes are representing two developers for adjoining schemes on this large site. These would both entail the demolition of the pub, which we felt was a matter of concern because its existence was a contributing factor to the Inspector agreeing to allow the appeal to demolish the Stanmore Hotel at the top of the hill. The first scheme is for a convenience store and child care nursery, both of which had come top of the list of preferences when the developers carried out consultations with the local residents, who now seem to be protesting strongly against them. We were worried about the amount of additional traffic these developments would generate in the narrow road, on which there are many parked cars. We felt the scale and design of the store would be too large for the character of the area and would be intrusive in the street scene, and that the site allocated to the nursery was too restricted, especially for the outside area provided for the children in the Transition and Kindergarten rooms, and we objected to these two schemes. However, we felt the second scheme, for a residential development of seven 3-bedroom and seven 2-bedroom dwellings, would be acceptable, and that the design of the houses, although not architecturally exciting, would fit in satisfactorily with the style of the original houses in the estate.
Objections have been raised by the City to all the previous proposals for broadband cabinets, but similar applications continue, the latest being in Eastgate Street near the junction at King Alfred’s statue (which was withdrawn before it could be viewed) and in The Square, outside Dinghams. We objected to this, feeling that the insensitive siting of the parking ticket machine should not be made worse by putting this bulky (5ft high, 4ft wide) cabinet close by, and wondering whether it could perhaps join the ugly huggermugger of assorted signs, cabinets and telephone box that already exists at the end of The Square in Market Street. It would be good if the various different authorities could get together before that end of the street has its facelift and rationalise the positions of their various installations so that this important focal point could be made less unsightly.
Decisions have been made on two longstanding applications: the residential development at Park House, Park Road, has been refused, and the amended proposal for a mixed development of ground floor office space and ten (instead of the previous eleven) flats at Staple Chambers, Staple Gardens has been granted.
The outcome of the Barton Farm appeal is still awaited, and consequently the date of the Public Inquiry against the refusal of the development at Pitt Manor still remains to be decided.
Two recent appeals against refusals by WCC have been dismissed by the Inspectors: at 22/23 Kingsgate Road, where a closeboarded fence was installed without permission, and at 5-11 Kynegils Road, where it was proposed that four dwellings should be built on land at the rear.
A single storey building to provide much needed facilities for an education centre is proposed behind 9 The Close. Although not visible to the general public, its construction will affect the setting of an important Listed Building, so it is very welcome that its neat design and well chosen materials should fit in satisfactorily with its sensitive surroundings.
There seems to have been a hiccup in the Planning Department’s procedures, because there have recently been a number of applications that failed to appear in their weekly lists and in some cases even in the local press, which meant that we - and everyone else - were unable to make any comment on them. We understand that new procedures should prevent this happening in the future, and it is also very much welcomed that the Hampshire Chronicle now gives the case numbers in its “In the Pipeline” column.
The viewing panels’ routine is undergoing an unwelcome change, brought about by the need for the City to save money, which as taxpayers we support. To save the time spent by staff printing planning applications, we now have to look at the majority of them ‘on line’, which can be a mixed blessing, although mercifully we can ask for printed copies of applications for large or complicated schemes. Now we can no longer look at printed copies of the plans, comparing the different elevations and floor plans as we wish, but have to huddle around two screens. These have been provided in response to our concern that we would be unable to see how the proposed scheme would affect existing conditions if it was impossible to make a direct comparison, and we very much appreciate the provision of this second screen. It does however mean that we must be much more disciplined in the way we look at the documents (perhaps not altogether a bad thing!) and seeing plans on line has the advantage that the information provided includes the comments made by planning officers and local residents, which aren’t available in the printed documents. The downside is that on a computer screen it is more difficult to read the notes on drawings (which means extra time spent on enlarging them), and that drawings aren’t always clear, depending upon their original quality and the competence of the scanning procedure. Some of the drawings are presented upside down, which is tiresome and time-consuming because there is no rotation option on the toolbar and therefore involves a drop-down menu that rotates the picture in what seems the most lengthy way round. Another problem is that errors are sometimes made in giving the details for online applications, with plans and documents from other applications being provided or inaccurate descriptions of the drawings being given.
While appreciating that everyone must move with the times, one does wonder whether the drive to move everything onto the electronic system will in fact end up with the most efficient results.