Agenda item

(Service Manager – Development Management) To consider the attached report for the proposed replacement of domestic double garage with a single storey one bedroom dwelling.

The Planning Officer, S Dhadwar, presented a report for the proposed replacement of a domestic double garage with a single-storey, one bedroom dwelling. This application had been considered by Area Planning Sub-Committee West on 17 August 2022.

S Dhadwar reported that the site was a small infill plot between the Travellers Friend car park on one side and a barn/outbuilding forming part of the curtilage of the cottages to the other side. Behind the garage, the land was grassed with no trees and enclosed by a brick wall on two sides. There were open fields to the north of the site, and the site was within the metropolitan Green Belt.

Planning Officers had originally concluded that the proposal constituted inappropriate development within the metropolitan Green Belt, as the site was not considered to meet the definition of an ‘infill plot’ within a village. There were also no very special circumstances to outweigh this and any other harm from the development. Therefore, the site had recommended for refusal at the meeting of Area Planning Sub-Committee West on 17 August 2022. However, the Sub-Committee had voted against the refusal and proposed that the application should be granted planning permission, subject to the standard planning conditions and the completion of a Section 106 legal agreement to mitigate any harm to the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (EFSAC). It was this recommendation from the Sub-Committee that was before the Committee.

The Committee noted the summary of representations that had been received in relation to this application, including an objection from the Parish Council, and heard from the applicant’s agent before proceeding to debate the application.

The Committee considered whether the proposal was actually ‘in-fill’ development, and whether the site would be visually more attractive with a bungalow rather than the current concrete double garage, as well as cause further harm to the metropolitan Green Belt. The Committee noted that Planning Officers had acknowledged the site was previously developed land within the metropolitan Green Belt.

Decision:

(1)        That planning application EPF/0313/22 for the land and garage adjacent to the Travellers Friend car park in Epping Road, Epping Green be granted planning permission subject to:

(a)        the completion of a Section 106 legal agreement under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to pay financial contributions towards mitigation and monitoring measures for the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation; and

(b)        the following planning conditions:

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

2… The development hereby permitted shall be carried out and retained strictly in accordance with the following approved plans:

Traffic Impacts relating to Habitats Regulations Assessment, Planning Statement, Sustainability Checklist, Sustainability Statement Phase 1 Site Investigation and Preliminary Risk Assessment by Remada September 2020 742.01.01, 22/002/01, 22/002/02, 22/002/03, 22/002/04, 22/002/05.

3… No development shall commence until an assessment of the risks posed by any contamination, carried out in accordance with British Standard BS 10175: Investigation of potentially contaminated sites - Code of Practice and the Environment Agency's Model Procedures for the Management of Land Contamination (CLR 11) (or equivalent British Standard and Model Procedures if replaced), shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. If any contamination is found, a report specifying the measures to be taken, including the timescale, to remediate the site to render it suitable for the approved development shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. The site shall be remediated in accordance with the approved measures and timescale and a verification report shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. If, during the course of development, any contamination is found which has not been previously identified, work shall be suspended and additional measures for its remediation shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. The remediation of the site shall incorporate the approved additional measures and a verification report for all the remediation works shall be submitted to the local planning authority within 21 days of the report being completed and approved in writing by the local planning authority.

4… Prior to preliminary ground works taking place, details of foul and surface water disposal shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be implemented in accordance with the approved details and shall be provided on site prior to the first occupation and shall be retained for the lifetime of the development.

5… Prior to any above ground works, documentary and photographic details of the type and colours of the external finishes of the development have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

6… Prior to first occupation of the development, measures shall be incorporated within the development to ensure a water efficiency standard of 110 litres (or less) per person per day.

7…Prior to any above ground works, full details of both hard and soft landscape works (including tree planting) and implementation programme (linked to the development schedule) shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. All hard and soft landscape works shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details. The works shall be carried out prior to the occupation of the building or completion of the development, whichever is the sooner. The hard landscaping details shall include, as appropriate, and in addition to details of existing features to be retained: proposed finished levels or contours; means of enclosure; car parking layouts; other minor artefacts and structures, including signs and lighting and functional services above and below ground. The details of soft landscape works shall include plans for planting or establishment by any means and full written specifications and schedules of plants, including species, plant sizes and proposed numbers /densities where appropriate. If within a period of five years from the date of the planting or establishment of any tree, or shrub or plant, that tree, shrub, or plant or any replacement is removed, uprooted or destroyed or dies or becomes seriously damaged or defective another tree or shrub, or plant of the same species and size as that originally planted shall be planted at the same place.

8… Prior to any above groundworks, a strategy to facilitate super-fast broadband for future occupants of the site shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority (LPA). The strategy shall seek to ensure that upon occupation of a dwelling, either a landline or ducting to facilitate the provision of a broadband service to that dwelling from a site-wide network, is in place and provided as part of the initial highway works and in the construction of frontage thresholds to dwellings that abut the highway, unless evidence is put forward and agreed in writing by the LPA that technological advances for the provision of a broadband service for the majority of potential customers will no longer necessitate below ground infrastructure. The development of the site shall be carried out in accordance with the approved strategy.

9… Prior to first occupation of the development hereby approved, 1 Electric Vehicle Charging Point for each dwelling shall be installed and retained thereafter for use by the occupants of the site.

10… The development shall not be commenced until a scheme specifying the provisions to be made to control noise and dust emanating from the site during construction works has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority. This scheme should include details of the construction methods to be employed and the equipment to be used.

11… Notwithstanding the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 as amended (or any other Order revoking, further amending or re-enacting that Order) no development generally permitted by virtue of Class A, B and E of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Order shall be undertaken without the prior written permission of the Local Planning Authority.

12… The solar panels shall be installed in accordance with the details shown on plan number 22/002/04 unless otherwise agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority.