Agenda item

23 Church Hill, Swannington, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 8QB

The Senior Planning Officer presented the report to Members.

Mrs H Parsons, applicant, addressed the Committee. She advised the Members that the application would be for family members to live in to give them a better life and get them out of rented properties, and thus a local needs dwelling. She highlighted to the Committee that there was full support from the neighbours, there would be no overshadowing of other properties, the proposed development was within the boundary of her land and the application would have no impact on highway safety with adequate visibility. She informed Members that the family contributed to the village with litter picking, gritting and that a local architect had been contracted to ensure that the development was sympathetic to the area.

The officer’s recommendation was moved by Councillor J Legrys and seconded by Councillor R Johnson.

Councillor D Harrison stated that he thought that the development was a gift and a wonderful idea to build in their own garden for the benefit of the family. He highlighted that the dwellings would be in the curtilage of the property and he had thought that site was a neighbouring field.

Councillor G Jones concurred that it was an ideal location to build and supported the application.

Councillor J Bridges stated that the only issue was the speed along the road and that he would have to support the officer recommendation. He stated that the speed limit should be reduced on the road and if it was then he could support the application.

Councillor D Everitt stated that the application was going against the rules on protecting the countryside as it was not one house but two.

Councillor J Legrys stated that he was clear why he was supporting the officer recommendation as the issue was building in the countryside. He felt that even if the speed limit was reduced along the road, many people would not obey it and that if the application was permitted the residents would still be reliant on cars. He advised the Committee that rules and standards needed to be adhered to as the Local Plan was with the Secretary of State and the plan needed to be safeguarded.

Councillor N Smith stated that he would support the application if the speed limit was 30mph.

Councillor M Specht questioned whether the applicant had sought pre application advice from officers as they would have been advised that the site was in the countryside and would possibly be refused. He supported the officer’s recommendation.

Councillor J G Coxon questioned if there were any records of any accidents that had occurred along the road as he was not aware of any. He stated that you could not stop people from walking along the road and that the there were already existing properties on the road. He supported the application.

Councillor D J Stevenson stated that it was becoming difficult to explain how applications for a small number of houses to be built outside the Limits to Development were being permitted and that the only issue with the application that was in front of them was the speed along the road that the development would be accessed off.

RESOLVED THAT:

The application be refused in accordance with the recommendation of the Head of Planning and Regeneration.