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Lewes and Eastbourne
Councils

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Shackleton Hall, Welcome Building, Devonshire Quarter, Compton Street, Eastbourne BN21 4BP

Contact: Committee Services on 01323 410000 

Items
No. Item

72.

Introductions

Minutes:

Members of the Committee and Officers present introduced themselves to all those who were present during the meeting.

 

73.

Apologies for absence and notification of substitute members

Minutes:

There were none.

 

74.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillor Diplock stated for transparency that he was acquainted with the applicant for item 78, 80 Firle Road. This was neither a personal nor prejudicial interest.

 

75.

Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022 pdf icon PDF 237 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022 were submitted and approved as a correct record, and the Chair was authorised to sign them.

 

76.

Urgent items of business. pdf icon PDF 46 KB

The Chairman to notify the Committee of any items of urgent business to be added to the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.  An officer addendum, however, was circulated to the Committee prior to the start of the meeting, updating the main reports on the agenda with any late information (a copy of which was published on the Council’s website).

 

77.

20 Upperton Road. ID: 210647 pdf icon PDF 227 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Application for variation of conditions 2 (approved plans), 3 (external materials), 4 and 5 (vehicular access) following grant of planning permissions 170868 and 180829 to allow for revised design, layout, access and parking arrangements and external finishing to the approved development –  UPPERTON

 

The Specialist Advisor (Planning) presented the report. 

 

The Committee was advised by way of an Addendum of additional plans that had been received, clarification on the height of the proposed walls to the front of the site, and an amended condition at paragraph 11.5 of the officer’s report.

 

Mr Johnjoe Wentworth (Resident) addressed the Committee in objection to the application. Mr Alex Bateman (Agent) spoke in support of the application.

 

Members discussed the proposal and expressed concerns regarding the lack of improvement to the site frontage requested at the Committee meeting held on 23 November 2021, specifically the limited 1.2m high boundary wall,  0.7m front canopy, parking and tarmac hardstanding.Members questioned why they could not enforce the improvements.

 

The Specialist Advisor (Planning) advised Members that the residential conversion of the building was granted under prior approval legislation, rather than planning approval. The application sought to regularise the conditions by way of amending the approved plans, this meant the planning conditions could not be imposed and there was no mechanism to require the owner to implement the works. The elements of the application that could be controlled were the bin store, cycle and parking provision, and these were all in accordance with the standards.

 

The Lawyer reminded the members that planning permission was for consent to build and that the Committee could not require the applicant to undertake the building works.

 

Councillor Murray proposed a motion to approve the application in line with the officer’s recommendation. This was seconded by Councillor Miah and was carried. 

 

RESOLVED: (unanimously) that Planning permission be approved subject to the conditions set out in the officer’s report.

 

78.

80 Firle Road. ID: 210482 pdf icon PDF 279 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Change of use of Beauty shop & Dwelling house (sui generis/C3) to 7 bed HMO (Sui Generis) - DEVONSHIRE

 

The Specialist Advisor (Planning) presented the report. 

 

The Committee was advised by way of an Addendum that there were no further updates following completion of the officer’s report.

 

The Committee raised concerns regarding the limited size of the 1-bedroom units and the lack of en-suite facilities and storage. Members sought clarification on the provision of double bedrooms for single occupancy and the number of licenced HMO’s in the vicinity. 

 

The Specialist Advisor (Planning) advised that there were separate housing standards on the provision of bathrooms and toilets.  Legislation required a bathroom to be within two floors of any bedroom.  All of the rooms were in accordance with the housing standards for single occupancy, and the cycle parking met the requirements of East Sussex County Council Highways. Whilst there were not many licenced HMO’s in the vicinity, this was checked against the licensing and planning registers.  It was noted that a premises with less than 6 bedrooms did not require a licence.

 

Councillor Murray proposed a motion to approve the application in line with the officer’s recommendation and the addition of a condition on single occupancy. This was seconded by Councillor Diplock and was carried. 

 

RESOLVED: by (5 votes to 3 against) that Planning permission be approved subject to the conditions set out in the officer’s report and the addition of a single occupancy condition for bedrooms No. 3 and 4 which are not to occupied by more than 1 person.

 

79.

Land off Brede Close. ID: 210995 pdf icon PDF 270 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Variation/removal of following Conditions attached to planning approval 180438. Vary Condition 2 (plans)to allow for adjustments to layout and fenestrations, Condition 5 (flood risk) to allow amendments to the schedule of flood mitigation measures and Condition 14 (CMP)to allow for changes to the Construction Management Plan. Remove Condition 15 (Telegraph Pole Relocation) as the pole has now been repositioned - DEVONSHIRE

 

The Specialist Advisor (Planning) presented the report. 

 

The Committee was advised by way of an Addendum that there were  no further updates following completion of the officer’s report.

 

The Committee welcomed the improvements to the application.

 

Councillor Vaughan proposed a motion to approve the application in line with the officer’s recommendation. This was seconded by Councillor Miah and was carried. 

 

RESOLVED: (unanimously) that Planning permission be approved subject to the conditions set out in the officer’s report.

80.

Date of next meeting

To note the next meeting of the Planning Committee is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 22 March 2022.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Planning Committee was scheduled to commence at 6:00pm on Tuesday, 22 March 2022.