TrustNews Dec 20

Planning Appraisal Group

PAG Chair Graeme Stevenson reports on the group's work over the last quarter.

 

September began with a very constructive meeting between the Panel Chairs and Julie Pinnock, the City Council's Service Lead - Built Environment. One of the objects of the meeting was to reinstate regular discussions with relevant planning officers. It was agreed that we would meet quarterly, with the next meeting to be arranged in December.

 

At the start of the last quarter, PAG Panel meetings were still meeting remotely, although as restrictions eased, these began to be held at the Heritage Centre. For various reasons, we have lost a number of Panel members, so the Panels did well to continue to assess the weekly list of planning applications in the City in their usual professional way.

 

 

A recent development in Winchester - does it avoid the monotonous, monochrome and mundane designs of mass housing which have been granted planning consent recently? (Photo G Stephenson)

 

The saga of the Barfield Close multi-storey parking development continues. To the frustration of Trust Panel members, the Council maintains its legitimacy in continuing with the construction.

 

Planning applications for telecommunication towers and infrastructure pose difficulties for the Panels to return meaningful comments. Information describing the structure, height/massing and description of materials, is nearly always minimal. They are often located in areas where their dominance is unacceptable. It would appear that pre-application consultation does not address the siting of these structures in terms of the environmental impact. This issue is likely to be on the agenda for future meetings with planning officers.

 

The Trust's concerns over inappropriate developments within historic environments and Conservation Areas continue to be well researched and commented upon by PAG Panels, enabling pertinent dialogue with planning officers, where controversial planning consents might otherwise be granted. The strength of in such situations upholds the importance of much of the Trust's work in protecting and enhancing the built environment.

 

With central Government's proposals to rapidly increase the provision of housing stock nationally, we need to be aware that a greater relaxation of planning control and the increased scope of permitted development rights could go hand in glove with any political pressure to achieve the required targets. We have already seen detrimental consequences of sub-standard housing provision in Hampshire. Equally we have examples of well-designed developments which demonstrate the ability to provide housing with acceptable space standards internally and spatial quality externally.

 

Fortunately, the Trust's PAG Panel chairs and members have the dedication and experience to monitor and lobby for high standards of design in our local housing projects.

 

We are pleased that we have some volunteers among the Trust's membership to join the PAG panels, two of whom are experienced/qualified in planning procedures and current policies. This will take the pressure off two panels which are currently short of members, but we are still keen to recruit new Panel members, so do get in touch with Tessa if you are interested (see box below).

 

Once again we thank the PAG panel members, who are all volunteers, for carrying out their important work. We have some vacancies on our panels at present, so if you have an interest in planning and development in Winchester and would like to become a member of a panel, please contact Tessa at secretary@cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk. It’s not a big commitment - just an hour or two per month - and no experience is necessary - training will be provided.

 

The Trust welcomes informative comments from locai people, but must avoid being influenced by vested interests or personal matters. Individuals who believe their interests are being affected by proposed schemes are advised to contact their Ward Councillors, who have more influence over such matters. If you would like to see details of Trust objections to planning applications and their fate, please go to the monthly PAG reports on our website.