Agenda and minutes

 

None declared.

 

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that parties to the Review were not permitted to address the Local Review Body (LRB).  He advised that the only participants entitled to speak would be the Members of the LRB panel and Mr Reppke who would provide procedural advice if required.

 

The Chair advised that his first task would be to establish whether or not the LRB felt they had sufficient information before them to reach a decision on the Review.

 

Councillor McCuish advised that although there was a lot of information before the Panel today he would like to obtain more information in respect of the impact of further development on the landscape and he recommended that a site inspection be arranged to clarify this.

 

Councillor MacAlister supported the comments made by Councillor McCuish and confirmed that he thought it would be useful to have a site inspection as the information before the Panel did not contain any photographs or plans of the site in question.

 

Councillor Currie agreed that a site inspection should be arranged and in addition to this that a hearing should be arranged in view of the large number of supporters.

 

Mr Reppke outlined the hearing procedure in terms of a Local Review which would involve the LRB determining which interested parties they would like to hear from on specified matters determined by the LRB.  It would then be a requirement of the interested parties to submit their comments on the specified matters in writing in advance of the hearing. 

 

Mr Reppke questioned whether it would be necessary to hold a hearing as there had been no objectors to the development and the LRB would still have the opportunity to ask interested parties questions on the specified matters determined by the LRB at the site inspection.  On this basis the LRB agreed not to have hearing and that an accompanied site inspection should be arranged.

 

Mr Reppke referred to Councillor MacAlister’s comments about there being no photographs or plans contained within the information before the LRB and questioned whether or not the LRB would wish to request this information.  The LRB confirmed that this would not be necessary.

 

Decision

 

1.             Agreed to hold an accompanied site inspection to determine what the impact of further development at this site would have on the landscape in the context of policy designations in the Local Plan;

 

2.             Agreed to invite the Planning Department and all the supporters of the development to the accompanied site inspection as interested parties; and

 

3.             Agreed to reconvene this meeting at the conclusion of the site inspection.

 

 

The Argyll and Bute Local Review Body re-convened on Friday 8 October 2010 at 10.45 am within the Peninver Hall, Peninver

 

Present:          Councillor Roderick McCuish (Chair)

                        Councillor Robin Currie

                        Councillor Alister MacAlister

 

Attending:        Iain Jackson, Governance and Risk Manager (Adviser)

                        Fiona McCallum (Minute Taker)

 

The Chair welcomed everyone to the reconvened meeting of the LRB and introductions were made.  He advised that parties to the Review were not permitted to address the LRB and that the only participants entitled to speak would be the Members of the LRB panel and Mr Jackson who would provide procedural advice if required. 

 

Having undertaken an accompanied site inspection prior to this meeting (see Appendix A) the Chair advised that his first task would be to establish whether or not the LRB felt that they now had sufficient information before them to reach a decision on the Review and the Members confirmed that they did and went on to debate the merits of the case.

 

Councillor McCuish advised that he did not think another dwelling would compromise or have an adverse impact visually or environmentally on the landscape.

 

Councillor Currie stated that the only reason planning refused the application was because the site was contrary to the North and South Kintyre Landscape Capacity  Study (LCS) and at the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Committee on 6 October 2010 it had been confirmed that the LCS was purely an advisory tool and not a plan that had to be religiously followed.  He confirmed that the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Committee agreed the North and South Kintyre Landscape Capacity Study as long as there would be flexibility and he saw no reason why the LRB could not be flexible with this case.

 

Councillor MacAlister advised that he saw no problem with the site.

 

Councillor McCuish confirmed that he found the site inspection valuable.  He referred to the Planner’s statement that no dwellings should be on the roadside yet travelling to the site there were houses all along the roadside.  He stated that the site was situated on the landward side of the road and would not be easily seen from the sea and advised that he was minded to grant the application.

 

Mr Jackson reminded the LRB that there was a procedure to follow and if they were minded to grant the application today they would need to draw up a set of conditions to attach to the application and would have to fully explain the reasons for going against the Planner’s decision.  The fact that the site was contrary to the Landscape Capacity Study would also necessitate the requirement for an Area Capacity Evaluation to be carried out on the site.

 

Councillor McCuish acknowledged that he would have difficulty in drawing up a set of conditions today that would be fair to both the applicant and Planners and therefore he would like to ask the Planners to draw up appropriate conditions for consideration by the LRB.  He also suggested that the LRB Members should consider the need for an Area Capacity Evaluation for the site.

 

Councillor Currie agreed that conditions should be drawn up by the planners but questioned the need for an Area Capacity Evaluation to be undertaken.

 

Councillor McCuish stated that he felt it was important that a belts and braces approach should be taken to make sure the correct procedure was followed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.