Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting (these are circulated separately)

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November were confirmed by the Members present and were then signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Guest, Durrant, Symington and Maddern.

Councillor Stevens substituted for Councillor Symington.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends

a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest

becomes apparent and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal
interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw

to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they

should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

It is requested that Members declare their interest at the beginning of the relevant agenda item and it will be noted by the Committee Clerk for inclusion in the minutes.

Councillor Wyatt-Lowe asked Members to remember to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary or other Interests at the beginning of the relevant planning application.

Councillor Hobson stated that she had been invited to a meeting of WHAG and that she had attended but not participated and that she would be approaching the application with an open mind.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation.

You need to inform the council in advance if you wish to speak by contacting Member Support on Tel: 01442 228209 or by email: Member.support@dacorum.gov.uk

The Development Management Committee will finish at 10.30pm and any unheard applications will be deferred to the next meeting.

There are limits on how much of each meeting can be taken up with people having their say and how long each person can speak for.  The permitted times are specified in the table above and are allocated for each of the following on a 'first come, first served basis':

·         Town/Parish Council and Neighbourhood Associations;

·         Objectors to an application;

·         Supporters of the application.

Every person must, when invited to do so, address their statement or question to the Chairman of the Committee.

Every person must after making a statement or asking a question take their seat to listen to the reply or if they wish join the public for the rest of the meeting or leave the meeting.

The questioner may not ask the same or a similar question within a six month period except for the following circumstances:

(a)       deferred planning applications which have foregone a significant or material change since originally being considered

(b)       resubmitted planning applications which have foregone a significant or material change

(c)       any issues which are resubmitted to Committee in view of further facts or information to be considered.

At a meeting of the Development Management Committee, a person, or their representative, may speak on a particular planning application, provided that it is on the agenda to be considered at the meeting.

Please note: If an application is recommended for approval, only objectors can invoke public speaking and then supporters will have the right to reply. Applicants can only invoke speaking rights where the application recommended for refusal.

Councillor Wyatt-Lowe reminded Members and the public about the rules regarding public participation as follows:

For each application the officer presents the report to the Committee, then the participants from the public are called to speak. Following this, questions are taken from the Committee along with statements and comments for debate.

Councillor Wyatt-Lowe stated that Councillor Durrant had wished to speak on behalf of residents, however could not due to procedural matters.

Councillor Adeleke had wished to speak on behalf of residents, however due to a misunderstanding could not. Councillor Wyatt-Lowe noted that Councillor Adeleke’s objections had been submitted in written form and had been included in the Addendum.

Councillor Allen had also wished to speak on behalf of residents, however as the application site did not fall in his Ward he was unable to.

James Doe, Assistant Director of Planning, Development and Regeneration introduced the application.

He said good evening to the Chairman and Members.

James Doe said that there was a lot to get through so he would be brief.

He said that as Members would know, this was a very significant development for Hemel Hempstead. In terms of the number of new homes proposed and the land area covered, it represented the largest expansion of the town since the last major neighbourhood area – Woodhall Farm – was built in the 1970s.

The proposal to expand Hemel Hempstead to the west through the LA3 area went back to the early part of the decade when the Council was preparing its development plan for the Borough, the Core Strategy. The definitive development plan itself went through extensive public consultation and a public examination, before it was adopted by the Borough Council in 2013.

The site received further scrutiny through the Site Allocations Development Plan Document which was adopted as formal policy in 2017. The adoption of the document confirmed its removal from the Green Belt and paved the way for planning application proposals to come forward, the results of which were before Members.

A masterplan for the site, which involved engagement with the local community, was adopted by the Council in July 2017.

The site had therefore been for a number of years Council policy as a key part of its plans to increase the housing supply in Dacorum and meet housing needs. As the Council was entering the next phase of development planning – with a new Local Plan scheduled for publication the following year, and with the level of local housing need increasing substantially, it was imperative that the sites that it had already confirmed as suitable for development in adopted policy were delivered.

The planning application under consideration was submitted to the Council in late December 2018.

The report before Members comprised the outcome of extensive negotiations between their officer team and the applicants over the past eleven months, and a high level of public engagement as the responses in the report and its appendices demonstrated.

In doing so, consultation had been carried out in accordance with the Council’s adopted policy – the Statement of Community Involvement – and had gone beyond its requirements through meetings with the West Hemel Action Group, Bourne End Village Association and the Dacorum Environmental Forum.

Officers were happy to confirm that the proposals complied with the policies adopted by the Council.

There had been a number of objections relating to the scale of the development at 1100 new homes plus the proposed care home in the second phase of the scheme, in that it went beyond the 900 homes contemplated in the Core Strategy.

That in itself did not conflict with adopted policies, which make it clear that 900 homes was not a maximum. The applicants had proposed a higher level and this had to be considered, and their role was to determine whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 307.