Agenda and minutes

The Chair opened the meeting and advised that as a road closure had prevented access to the site for the site visit scheduled for 12 noon that day, his intention was to adjourn the meeting to allow the Argyll and Bute Local Review Body (ABLRB) to attend the site visit and to reconvene once the site visit had taken place. This was agreed by the ABLRB.

The meeting was adjourned at 1.00pm and reconvened at 2.05pm with all those present as per the sederunt.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair, Councillor Green, welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He explained that no person present would be entitled to speak other than the Members of the LRB and Mr Logan, who would provide procedural advice if required.

He advised that his first task would be to establish if the Members of the LRB felt that they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review.

Councillors Brown and Armour advised that they felt they had sufficient information before them to come to a decision on the Review.

Councillor Brown said that she had wanted definition around what was a cluster and what was a settlement, and that her questions had been answered in that there was no definitive definition of a cluster.  She advised that following the site visit she did not feel that the house would be part of a cluster as she had observed houses further on from the site that were part of a cluster.  She said that she would like an opportunity to prepare a motion to approve planning permission.

Councillor Armour agreed with Councillor Brown adding that the site visit had been very helpful.  He referred to having looked at what was further along from the site which looked very much like a cluster and seeing where the proposed building would be, he did not feel that it would be as visible as others in the surrounding area. He advised that he was minded to agree with Councillor Brown to look to find motion to approve the application.

The Chair, Councillor Green, agreed with the other Members.  He advised that the site visit had been good to see other properties further up and down the road and that it had been good to put character into context with other groupings and patterns in the surrounding area. He referred to landscape points where the houses appeared to be right next to each other but at other points along the road they seemed to be apart. He said that the site may have appeared to be clustered but not more so than any others along that way.

Councillor Green added that the site was not obtrusive as it was set in against the hill and Councillor Armour agreed saying that it was not going to stand out. Councillor Brown agreed saying that the site was set back from the road

Decision

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body, as they were minded to grant the application, agreed to continue consideration of the Review to allow for an opportunity to seek to prepare a competent Motion to justify approval of planning permission in principle.

(Reference: Further written submissions by Planning Authority and comments from Applicant, submitted)