STIRLING COUNCIL
MINUTES of MEETING of the PLANNING & REGULATION PANEL held by Virtual Meeting
on MICROSOFT TEAMS, ON TUESDAY 1 MARCH 2022 at 10.00 am
Present
Councillor Alasdair MACPHERSON (in the Chair)
Councillor Robert DAVIES
Councillor Scott FARMER
Councillor Graham HOUSTON
Councillor Susan MCGILL
Councillor Jim THOMSON
In Attendance
Stephanie Cameron, Licensing Team Leader (Governance)
Christina Cox, Planning & Buildings Standards Service Manager (Infrastructure)
Mark Henderson, Senior Media Officer (Communities & Performance)
Iain Jeffrey, Senior Planning Officer (Infrastructure)
Paul McCandlish, Solicitor – Litigation & Licensing (Governance)
Michael Mulgrew, Planning Development Management Team Leader (Infrastructure)
Neil Pirie, Senior Development Control Officer (Environment & Place)
Carla Roth, Solicitor – Litigation (Governance)
Stephen Spiers, Development Control Officer (Environment & Place)
Karen Swan, Committee Officer (Governance)
David McDougall, Governance Officer (Governance) (Clerk)
Also in attendance
Sgt Liam Livingston, Police Scotland
Prior to the start of the meeting, Councillor MacPherson as Chair of this Planning & Regulation Panel welcomed and thanked everyone for attending the meeting via MS Teams. He updated the meeting on the procedures related to MS Teams and the protocols that both Members and Officers should adhere to throughout the meeting.
The Chair asked the Clerk to carry out a roll call of all Members participating in the meeting.
PL436 APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTIONS
There was no apologies or substitutions.
PL437 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest.
PL438 URGENT BUSINESS BROUGHT FORWARD BY THE CHAIR
There were no items of urgent business brought forward.
The Minutes of the Special Meeting of Planning & Regulation Panel held on 19 Januarywere submitted for approval.
The Planning & Regulation Panel approved the Minutes of the Special Meeting of & Regulation Panel on 19 January 2022 as an accurate record of
proceedings.
Council resolved that under Section 50A (4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act
1973, the public be excluded from the Meeting for the following items of business on
the grounds that it involved the disclosure of exempt information as defined in
Paragraphs 14 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
The Clerk updated the meeting on the procedures related to MS Teams Civic Hearing
process and the protocols that all should adhere to throughout the next item.
PL440 DETERMINATION OF A CIVIC LICENCE APPLICATION: TAXI DRIVER’S LICENCE
A report by the Chief Officer – Governance was submitted that provided detail in relation to an application for a taxi driver’s licence, to be determined by the Planning & Regulation Panel as the civic licensing authority.
The Solicitor – Litigation updated the Panel on the status of the Taxi Driver’s
application and requested that the Panel continue consideration of the application to a future meeting.
Decision
The Planning & Regulation Panel agreed to continue consideration of the application to a future Meeting of the Planning & Regulation Panel.
(Reference: Report by Chief Officer - Governance, dated 16 February 2022, submitted)
PL441 DETERMINATION OF A CIVIC LICENCE APPLICATION: TAXI DRIVER’S LICENCE
A report by the Chief Officer – Governance was submitted that provided detail in relation to an application for a taxi driver’s licence, to be determined by the Planning & Regulation Panel as the civic licensing authority.
The Licensing Team Leader advised the Panel that the applicant had been given the opportunity to attend and provide clarity on their application. The applicant accepted the opportunity to attend.
In line with the Civic Licensing Hearing Procedures, the Chair invited Police Scotland the opportunity to provide clarity on the application.
In response to a number of Members questions, Police Scotland responded with clarification and detail.
In line with the Civic Licensing Hearing procedures, the Chair invited the applicant the opportunity to provide clarity on their application.
In response to a number of Members questions, the applicant responded with
clarification and detail.
Decision
The Planning & Regulation Panel agreed to grant the licence.
(Reference: Report by Chief Officer - Governance, dated 2 February 2022, submitted)
The Chair of the Planning & Regulation Panel reconvened the public meeting at 12:30pm, noting
All Elected Members, previously noted, present.
Councillor MacPherson as Chair of the Planning & Regulation Panel updated the meeting on the procedures related to MS Teams Hearing process and the protocols that all should adhere to throughout the next item.
PL442 ALTERATION AND EXTENSION OF EXISTING DWELLINGHOUSE AND OF 9NO. DWELLINGHOUSES AND GARAGES TOGETHER WITHROADS, FOOTPATHS AND LANDSCAPING AT LAND AND
BUILDING AT GLEN VIEW EAST PLEAN ROAD PLEAN – 21/00517/FUL –
HEARING
The Senior Manager – Infrastructure submitted a report that detailed an application had been referred to Panel at the request of Councillor MacPherson on the basis of assessment against countryside policies.
A competent request for a Hearing had been received.
The report formed the Report of Handling for the planning application in compliance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2013.
The Senior Planning Officer introduced the report and updated Members with the presentation of maps of the proposed site.
Applicant/Agent
Mr Gavin Hepburn (Applicant) and Mr Neil MacFarlane (Agent) of Machin Dunn & MacFarlane Architects would present their case in support of the application.
Mr MacFarlane explained that there was no technical constraints preventing the development, which had been accepted by the case officer through the application process and was also confirmed within their report of handling.
It also had to be noted that there was no public or statutory consultee objections to the proposals.
Therefore the sole reasons for the refusal was that the site was not allocated for development within the current LDP and that it was deemed contrary to LDP Policy 2.10 Housing in the Countryside.
In response to the above, the site was located between the existing industrial premises and housing within the Plean Settlement boundary. The site was identified within the current LDP as an ‘Employment Safeguarding Area’. It was therefore the Applicant and Agents view that the site could not be classed as countryside given its contrary definition within the LDP, which alluded to the site already being allocated for employment.
The site should be viewed as being within the village, which suggested an anomaly in the local development plan where the site, and the adjoining industrial estate lay immediately out-with the existing settlement boundary.
With regard to housing in the countryside the existing development within the village and industrial estate created a cluster that had more than 3 dwellings, and with buildings all visually relating to each other. The proposed development sat within the wider group on an easily definable site, and with defensible boundaries to all sides.
Alternatively, the site could be looked at as a form of infill development between the village and the industrial estate. It was appreciated that the guidance sought to avoid such situations where the housing in the countryside led to an extension of a settlement boundary, other than in exceptional circumstances. However, there were exceptional circumstances in this application, relating to the economic benefits that would accrue
from the development taking place by a local company.
The site was a brownfield site and previously developed land and there were certain criteria within Policy 2.10 which permitted housing in the countryside, one of which being development of brownfield sites.
The site therefore could not be assessed as anything other than brownfield, and as such did in fact fully accord with the requirements of policy 2.10 – Housing in the Countryside.
Given all of the stated reasons, together with the lack of technical constraints or third-party objections, the applicant and agenthoped the Panel would agree that planning approval should be granted for the modest, high quality, bespoke residential development.
Mr MacFarlane thanked the Panel for their time and introduced Mr Gavin Hepburn of Hescott Engineering (Applicant).
Mr Hescott explained that Hescott Engineering began 34 years ago in Carbook
Industrial Estate next to Glenview, the company outgrew the workshop and moved to Larbert but advised that all 4 directors lived within the local area to the Carbook Industrial Estate.
Hescott Engineering employed up to 60 staff, of which 80% from the Stirling Falkirk area. The local ethos would be brought to the development at Glenview with local suppliers and tradespeople which would create local jobs between 2022/23, with an investment circa 2.3million.
Mr Hescott thanked the Panel for their time and advised that both Mr MacFarlane and he would be happy to answer any questions.
The Chair thanked Mr Hescott and Mr MacFarlane for their presentation.
In response to Members questions, the Senior Planning Officer confirmed that if a business had applied to build on the land proposed, it would have received consent to build due to the Policies adhered to; that conditions, should the application be approved, would re-establish trees that had been removed due to construction and that any contamination of the brownfield site would have to be corrected prior to construction.
With the Officers Recommendation not moved, Councillor MacPherson proposed the following motion.
Motion
The Planning & Regulation Panel agree to approve the application due to the following reasons:-
-
the proposed development is located on a long standing brownfield site that was used as a coal yard, the site has been environmentally degraded by its previous usages and the environment would benefit from the remedial work found in the ground investigation report;
-
the development of a local brownfield site accords with the local and national planningpolicy. The proposed site boarders the town’s residential settlement and boundary of the village and would be a logical extension to it based on its current use. It will provide a natural rounding order to the settlement to Plean, industrial estate and countryside beyond;
-
the existence of the industrial estate and its existing landscape features provide a defensible boundaries and a natural stop for further development; and
-
the site is allocated for employment in LDP and its use for housing makes it acceptable for reasons previously advised, albeit it does note accord to the Planning Policy of LDP.
Proposed by Councillor Alasdair MacPherson, seconded by Councillor Robert Davies. The Motion was unanimously agreed.
Decision
The Planning & Regulation Panel agreed to approve the planning application, subject to planning conditions and S75 agreement.
(Reference: Report by Senior Manager – Infrastructure, dated 16 February 2022.
The Chair adjourned the meeting at 1.00pm to allow the Applicant and Agent to leave the meeting.
The Meeting reconvened at 11:10am, noting
All Elected Members, previously noted, present.
Council resolved that under Section 50A (4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act
1973, the public be excluded from the Meeting for the following item of business on
the grounds that it involved the disclosure of exempt information as defined in
Paragraphs 14 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
The Clerk updated the meeting on the procedures related to MS Teams Civic Hearing process and the protocols that all should adhere to throughout the next item.
PL443 DETERMINATION OF A CIVIC LICENCE APPLICATION: TAXI DRIVER’S
LICENCE
A report by the Chief Officer – Governance was submitted that provided detail in relation to an application for a taxi driver’s licence, to be determined by the Planning & Regulation Panel as the civic licensing authority.
The Licensing Team Leader advised the Panel that the applicant had been given the opportunity to attend and provide clarity on their application. The applicant accepted the opportunity to attend.
In line with the Civic Licensing Hearing Procedures, the Chair invited Police Scotland the opportunity to provide clarity on the application.
In response to a number of Members questions, Police Scotland responded with clarification and detail.
In line with the Civic Licensing Hearing procedures, the Chair invited the applicant the opportunity to provide clarity on their application.
In response to a number of Members questions, the applicant responded with
clarification and detail.
Decision
The Planning & Regulation Panel agreed to grant the licence.
(Reference: Report by Chief Officer - Governance, dated 16 February 2022,
submitted)
The Chair declared the Meeting closed at 11.20am