STIRLING COUNCIL
MINUTES of MEETING of the PLANNING & REGULATION PANEL held in the COUNCIL
CHAMBERS, OLD VIEWFORTH, STIRLING ON TUESDAY 26 MARCH 2019 at 10.00am
Present
Councillor Alasdair MacPHERSON (in the Chair - item PL220 only )
Councillor Neil BENNY (in the Chair - item
PL222 only)
Councillor Alistair BERRILL
Councillor Douglas DODDS
Councillor Graham LAMBIE
Councillor Jeremy McDONALD
Councillor Jim Thomson (Substitute - item
PL220 only)
In Attendance
Stephanie Cameron, Team Leader, Licensing
Christina Cox, Service Manager, Planning & Building Standards
Ruth McColgan, Chief Officer – Governance (Interim)
Mary Love, Committee Officer (Minute)
Tony Mason, Lead Solicitor (Clerk)
Agenda
The Chair intimated his intention to alter the order of the Agenda. The items were taken in the order minuted below.
PL216 APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Apologies were submitted on behalf of Councillor Maureen Bennison, Councillor Graham Houston and Councillor Chris Kane.
Councillor Jim Thomson attended as substitute for Councillor Maureen Bennison for item PL220 only, having not attended the site visit regarding item PL221.
PL217 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Alasdair MacPherson declared a non-financial interest in Agenda Item 5 (Refers to PL221) Construct New 1.5 Storey, 3 Bed Dwelling at Sunnylaw Farm Water Tank, Pendrich Road, Bridge of Allan – Mr & Mrs M & K Tomkinson – 18/00768/FUL, which related to another person. A close family member of the Chair had engaged a firm connected to the applicant.
The Chair stated that this item would be moved to the end of the agenda to allow for a new Chair to be appointed.
PL218 URGENT BUSINESS BROUGHT FORWARD BY THE CHAIR
There were no items of urgent business brought forward.
PL219 MINUTES PLANNING & REGULATION PANEL – 26 FEBRUARY 2018
The Minutes of the Planning & Regulation Panel held on 26 February 2019 were submitted for approval.
Decision
The Minutes of the Planning & Regulation Panel held on 26 February 2019 were approved as an accurate record of proceedings subject to the following amendment:-
PL207 - Councillor Alasdair MacPherson declared a non-financial interest in Agenda Item 7 Construct New 1.5 Storey, 3 Bed Dwelling at Sunnylaw Farm Water Tank, Pendrich Road, Bridge of Allan – Mr & Mrs M & K Tomkinson – 18/00768/FUL, which related to another person. A close family member of the Chair had engaged a firm connected to the applicant.
PL220 TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE LICENSING IN THE STIRLING COUNCIL AREA: CONSULTATION
The report by the Chief Governance Officer (Interim) proposed that a consultation exercise be carried out to assess whether any changes were required to the taxi and private hire licensing framework in the Stirling Council area, to ensure it best meets local needs in 2019, and beyond.
The Chief Governance Officer (Interim) introduced the report and responded to questions from Panel Members.
Updated figures were provided at today’s meeting, with regard to the number of private hire vehicles licensed, now 125, and wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles, now 14, in the Stirling Council area.
Discussion took place regarding methods of consulting licence holders, stakeholders and members of the public to enable officers to collate the relevant information on local use of, and requirements for, taxi and private hire services across Stirling Council area. No detailed plans were in place yet, however, the use of an online survey was being considered as an option, although Members raised concerns around the accuracy of the survey results. The Chief Governance Officer (Interim) added that meetings would
be arranged, to enable officers to engage directly with the relevant parties. It was also agreed that the Chief Governance Officer (Interim) would discuss plans for the consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning & Regulation Panel, after consultation with all Panel members, prior to commencing the consultation.
In response to a question from the Panel around whether Stirling Council could control the ability of licence holders from areas outwith Stirling coming into the area for hire, the Chief Governance Officer (Interim) explained that de-regulation was in reference to the restriction of taxi licence numbers only.
Further discussion took place around de-regulation of taxi licence numbers and the Chief Governance Officer (Interim) agreed to seek to identify potential cost implications to Stirling Council should de-regulation occur.
Decision
The Panel agreed
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to a period, or periods, of public and stakeholder consultation on taxi and private hire licensing in the Stirling Council area, to include consultation on local use of, and requirements for, taxi and private hire services across the Council area, limitations on vehicle licence numbers and vehicle specifications;
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to delegate to the Chief Officer – Governance to prepare a plan as to the
period(s) and method(s) of consultation, to agree that plan with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Panel, after consultation with Panel members, and thereafter to undertake the consultation; -
to note that officers will report to Panel on the results of the consultation no later than September 2019;
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that the current limit of 76 taxi vehicle licences granted in the Council area should remain in place pending completion of the proposed consultation; and
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to note that an unmet demand survey of taxi licensing in the Council area has not yet been carried out in 2019 (the last survey having been carried out in 2016), and to agree that decision should be deferred, and a decision taken on its instruction when officers report to Panel on the results of the proposed consultation.
(Reference: Report by Chief Officer - Governance, dated 18 March 2019, submitted).
At 10.25am Councillor Alasdair MacPherson (Chair) agreed to adjourn the meeting for a short break to allow himself and Councillor Jim Thomson to leave the meeting, therefore, neither took part in consideration of the next agenda item.
The meeting reconvened at 10.30am with the following Members present:-
Councillor Neil Benny
Councillor Douglas Dodds
Councillor Graham Lambie
Councillor Jeremy McDonald
PL221 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR
In the absence of Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning & Regulation Panel, the Panel agreed to appoint a Chair for the remainder of the meeting.
The Clerk asked the Panel for nominations for a Chair.
The Panel unanimously nominated Councillor Neil Benny to Chair the Planning & Regulation Panel.
Councillor Neil Benny accepted and took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.
PL222 CONSTRUCT NEW 1.5 STOREY, 3 BED DWELLING AT SUNNYLAW FARM TANK, PENDREICH ROAD, BRIDGE OF ALLAN – MR & MRS M & K- 18/00768/FUL
The Planning & Regulation Panel of 26 February 2019 agreed that consideration of this planning application be deferred to a future meeting of the Panel in order to allow a site visit to take place. The site visit took place on Thursday 21 March 2019.
Appendix 1 of this report set out the Report of Handling for this planning application.
All Members present attended the site visit in relation to this application and therefore could take part in its determination.
The Service Manager, Planning & Building Standards, introduced the report, which provided details of (a) the site; (b) the proposal and (c) elevations, and responded to a number of questions from Panel Members.
Discussion took place around the proposed dwelling and its location within the
countryside. It was noted that one the main concerns around this application was with regard to the relationship of the dwelling to the steading, as an attempt had been made to create a steading that was traditional to the countryside, however, the proposed dwelling did not have a relationship to any traditional building form. Another concern was the scale of the proposed dwelling, which was 2 storeys.
It was also noted that part of the access road was outwith the site boundary and if the application were approved and the applicant wished to apply for more access, a separate application regarding the access road would be required, as this was not relevant to the determination of today’s application.
Decision
The Panel agreed to approve the application with standard conditions on the grounds that it was not detrimental to the countryside.
(Reference: Report by Senior Manager - Infrastructure, dated 18 February 2019 submitted)
The Chair declared the Meeting closed at.10.50am