Local Review Body - 22/02/2011

At a MEETING of the LOCAL REVIEW BODY held at Dundee on 22nd February, 2011.

Present:-

Councillor David BOWES

Councillor Christina ROBERTS

Councillor Tom FERGUSON

Councillor David BOWES, in the Chair.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and briefly outlined the role of the Local Review Body and officers, in particular advising that, although the Planning Adviser was an employee of the Planning Authority, he had not been involved in the determination of the cases under review, and was present to provide factual information and guidance only.

I MINUTE OF MEETING OF LOCAL REVIEW BODY OF 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

The minute of the above meeting was submitted and noted.

II REQUEST FOR REVIEW - LR01/11 - GARDEN GROUND AT 18 CAMPHILL ROAD, BROUGHTY FERRY, DUNDEE

There was submitted Agenda Note AN25-2011 giving details of a request for a review of the refusal of planning permission for the erection of a single storey house in garden ground at 18 Camphill Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, for RMJ Properties.

The Planning Adviser gave a brief outline of the application and the reasons for the refusal.

Thereafter, the Legal Adviser advised of the undernoted procedural/legal issues which required to be considered by the Local Review Body:-

(i) The applicant had referred in the Notice of Review to new material pertaining to a planning application immediately next door to the proposed development, which he considered to be relevant to this review. That planning application had been determined subsequent to the determination of the application under review today and could not therefore have been before the appointed officer when he reached his decision in this case.

In terms of 43B(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as amended, in a review, a party to the proceedings is not to raise any matter which was not before the appointed person at the time the determination reviewed was made unless that party can demonstrate that the matter could not have been raised before that time, or that its not being raised before that time was a consequence of exceptional circumstances. If either of these tests were met then the Local Review Body should take the new information into consideration in reaching its decision.

In any event, in terms of Section 43B(2) of the 1997 Act as amended, the Local Review Body is, required in reaching its decision, to have regard to the provisions of the development plan and any other material considerations. Therefore, if the Local Review Body considered that the new information contained material considerations it was required to take these into account. If not and neither of the criteria in terms of sub-section (1) is met, the new information should not be considered.

The Local Review Body agreed with the view of the Legal Adviser, which was that the new material referred to in the application for review should be taken into consideration and nothing should be ruled out at this stage.

(ii) The applicant's agent had also submitted an e-mail to the clerk dated 4th February, 2011 concerning an application for planning permission, in principle, and the associated application for conservation consent in respect of the demolition of a house and erection of a hotel at land west of the library, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, advising that the applicant wished to reserve his position in respect of these applications in the event that they were recommended for approval. The applications were recommended for refusal and were refused by the Development Management Committee on 21st February, 2011. There is no provision in the legislation or the Town and Country Planning Development Management Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2008 for the applicant to make a further submission after the lodging of the Notice of Review but can only respond to comments made by the objectors.

However, the Local Review Body, having noted that it was required to take into account all material considerations in determining the review, agreed to consider them.

In addition, the Legal Adviser responded to a concern raised by the applicant that the application had been dealt with by the Appointed Officer rather than Development Management Committee by advising that as there were only five objectors and the application was recommended for refusal, it fell within the Council's mandatory Scheme of Delegation.

Thereafter, the Local Review Body considered whether it felt that it had sufficient information before it to determine the review at that time, or whether it required any further information. Members noted that the applicant had requested that the review be undertaken on the basis of one or more hearing sessions, and a site visit.

The Local Review Body considered the documentation submitted and, after discussion, agreed to request further written submissions in respect of the undernoted matters under the provisions of Regulations 13 and 15 of the Town and Country Planning (Schemes of Delegation and Local Review) Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2008 from the following individual:-

From the Appointed Officer

(i) Useable Garden Ground - An explanation as to how he came to the conclusion that insufficient useable garden ground is provided by the proposal to comply with Policy 4, Appendix 1 of the Dundee Local Plan Review;

(ii) Density - Further information to explain the conclusion that the proposed dwelling fails to respect the low density pattern of development of the surrounding area and is therefore contrary to Policy 4(b) and Policy 15(d) of the Dundee Local Plan Review;

(iii) Area of Hardstanding - Detailed information regarding the calculations that led to the conclusion that approval of the proposal would result in the development of 48% of the original house and garden, and is therefore contrary to Policy 15(c); and

(iv) Design of New House - Further comment on the reasons for the conclusion that the design of the proposed house is contrary to Policy 15(a) and Policy 61 of the Dundee Local Plan Review.

The Local Review Body also agreed to hold an accompanied site visit on Tuesday, 15th March, 2011 at 2.00 pm.

David BOWES, Chairman.