Agenda item

5b.

ITEM 5b - 4/02204/18/MFA –

Demolition of existing buildings.  Construction of extra care scheme comprising 41 no. Apartments with associated landscaping and Parking. –

Old Silk Mill Brook Street Tring HP235EF 

Councillor Townsend declared an interest in item 5b and took no part in voting.

The Case Officer, Andrew Parrish introduced the report to Members and said that the application had been referred to the Committee as an application had first been reported to Committee in May 2019. The decision has not been issued and in the mean-time there has been a material change in circumstances that needs to be considered.

It was proposed by Councillor McDowell and seconded by Councillor Riddick that planning permission be REFUSED.

Vote:

For:     13       Against:   0               Abstained:   0

Resolved: That planning permission be REFUSED due to the following reasons:

1. The site lies within Flood Zone 3b (functional floodplain) which is defined by the South West Hertfordshire Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment March 2019 as having the highest probability of flooding. The development is classed as “more vulnerable” in accordance with table 2 of the Flood Zones and flood risk tables of the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) Flood Risk and Coastal Change. Tables 1 and 3 make it clear that this type of development is not compatible with this Flood Zone and therefore should not be permitted. In accordance with the sequential approach of the National Planning Policy Framework, the development should be relocated to land with a lower risk of flooding. In accordance with the PPG, there is no case for an exception. The proposal is therefore contrary to National Planning Policy Framework and Policy CS31 of the Dacorum Core Strategy September 2013.

2. The Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) submitted in support of the application is not based on the most up to date available data, namely the South West Hertfordshire Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) and its flood zone 3b allocation. An FRA is vital to making informed planning decisions. In the absence of an acceptable FRA, the flood risks posed by the development are not fully known and understood. The proposal is therefore contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework and Policy CS31 of the Dacorum Core Strategy September 2013.

3. The proposal would result in buildings being constructed over the culverted Long Marston Brook. The proposed building is for residential apartments and if there was a need to access the culvert this could create severe disruption to a residential area, and furthermore could result in flooding or other impacts in the area if for any reason the culvert were to become blocked and access could not be gained. The proposal is contrary to Policy 8 of the Hertfordshire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy 2 which states that “In principle, no construction works should occur on the top of a culvert”. The proposal would therefore be contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework which states that advice should be taken from the Lead Local Flood Authority on sustainable drainage systems. The proposal is also contrary to Policy CS31 of the Dacorum Core Strategy September 2013.

4. The application proposes a surface water runoff rate of 5l/s that is not the greenfield runoff rate for the site nor a rate which the Lead Local Flood Authority might otherwise be willing to accept. Nor have half drain-down times been provided for the surface water attenuation storage. In the absence of strong technical justification / additional information having been submitted and accepted, the proposal does not accord with sustainable drainage principles and is therefore contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework and Policy CS31 of the Dacorum Core Strategy September 2013.

5. There is no mechanism is place to secure the Heads of Terms for a planning obligation agreed by the Development Management Committee in May 2019. These provisions are considered necessary to mitigate the impacts of the development, are directly related to the development and are fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.  The proposal is therefore contrary to saved Policy 13 of the Dacorum Borough Local Plan 1991-2011 and Policy CS35 of the Dacorum Core Strategy September 2013.