Planning Matters November 2007

Planning Matters for the Meeting of 19th November 2007

Plans to be considered by the Council:

BI/07/05327/DOM – Mr NA Hayes, Havenhurst, Sidlesham Lane, Birdham – Single storey garden shed and store

Plans considered since the last meeting to be ratified:

BI/07/04978/LBC and BI/07/04976/DOM – Well House, Lock Lane, Birdham – Fenestration alterations and cladding reinstatement to painted joinery shiplap.
The architect for this development is a member of Birdham Parish Council and has taken no part in the consideration of this application.

The Council considers that great care has been taken in this application to strip away unfortunate previous work on this listed building and to restore it to something like its original form. The Council raises NO OBJECTION to this application but would like to see further consideration paid to the unsightly solar panel on the west elevation. We support the use of solar panels but would like to see a design more suitable to the listed status of this house.

BI/07/04815/FUL – Far End, 6, Burlow Close, Birdham – proposed first floor rear extension, dormer windows to front and rear and conversion of Far End into 2 no. self-contained, semi-detached cottages.
Burlow Close is a private road of detached bungalows on the edge of Birdham village, some of which back directly onto the Chichester Harbour AONB. Their rear boundaries form the border of the Birdham Built Up Area. Far End lies at the end of this cul-de-sac. The maintenance of the road is paid for by contributions from the riparian owners and the road was resurfaced in the last five years.

The proposal is to convert this three bedroom bungalow into two smaller dwellings of one and a half storeys with dormer windows in the roof. Comparison has been made with a similar conversion at Sandpipers in Crooked Lane. Despite the proximity of Sandpipers, the character of Burlow Close is entirely different and we consider that this application has to be seen on its own merits.

Policy RE14 sections 3 (first sentence) and 6 would seem to apply here. The Council does not consider that the conversion would materially alter the character of Burlow Close or that the development could be refused under Policy RE4. Consideration should be given however to the creation of a precedent in this part of the close by the conversion of a bungalow into (effectively) a two storey house.

Concern has been expressed to us about access to the site during building operations and, having visited the site, we share those concerns. The section of the road approaching the site is, we are told, tarmac on hard core and would be easily damaged by heavy lorry traffic. The entrance to the site itself is bordered on the right by an oak tree with a Preservation Order which we would insist must be protected by a two metre fenced zone during building work. This would however reduce the width of the entrance which is bordered on the right by a neighbour’s unfenced lawn under which run the main services. There is also no room for vehicles to turn in this part of the road and on the site and any vehicle parked on the road would inevitably block neighbours’ entrances. We would like to see a scheme by the developer to overcome these problems and also to know that he is fully insured against damage to neighbours’ properties and their main services. It should also be a condition that the road and the verges approaching the property must be returned to their original condition after work is completed. Because of the character of this road there should be a condition limiting the times at which work can take place, i.e. during the normal working day and not in the evenings or at weekends.

The site is enclosed to the north and east by substantial planting. It is important that this should be maintained and developed, especially to the east, where the nearest neighbour would suffer significant loss of privacy from the installation of the dormer window on the north end of the east elevation. We would like to see a scheme for this.

Our final concern is with parking spaces. The property lies at the highest end of the close and impermeable surfaces for parking would cause run-off which would exacerbate existing problems at the house marked 5 on the location plan.

It will be clear that the Council can find no material grounds to oppose the application on the property itself but must OBJECT unless satisfactory reassurances from the developer can be given on the points made on the consequences of the development.

BI/07/04892/DOM – The Old Rectory, Crooked Lane, Birdham – buttress support on road side.

The architect for this development is a member of Birdham Parish Council and has taken no part in the consideration of this application.

The Council raises NO OBJECTION to this application.

BI/07/05006/FUL – Birdham Business Park – demolish existing bungalow and erect 3 no. B1 units on bungalow site and adjoining industrial land.
Birdham Business Park (Allmans) is a self-contained collection of offices, warehousing and manufacturing units, situated on the south side of Birdham Road (known locally at this point as Birdham Straight) approximately half a mile north of the Built Up Area of Birdham and on the other side of the road from the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site would be clearly visible from the AONB were it not for a screen of mixed trees and shrubs on the road edge of the site. There has been another planned extension to the site in the past year.

The first part of this application proposes the demolition of The Old Cottage, which is shown on the 1875 Ordinance Survey map and appears to be older than that. The front of the cottage has retained its integrity as a modest, rural labourer’s cottage and we wonder why it was not listed earlier as an example of the vernacular architecture of this area. It has been much neglected, although it is lived in at present, and allowed to fall into a certain amount of decay. More seriously, the development of Allmans Engineering works and now the Business Park have left the cottage surrounded and dwarfed by industrial buildings. With reluctance, the Council feels it cannot oppose the demolition of this building.

The major part of this application is for the erection of three B1 industrial units on the bungalow site and adjoining land, the provision of parking spaces for cars, cycles and lorries and the extension of the visibility splay at the entrance to the site.

The Council is not opposed to the erection of these units on this self-contained site and policy RE12 encourages proposals for additional employment opportunities. However, the Policy goes on to make the provision that such buildings will not be visually damaging or obtrusive in the landscape. Policy B5 makes further provisions to protect the impact of the appearance of the building in the landscape because of light pollution (subsection 3) and height and bulk (subsection 5). The Council therefore raises concerns about
• The materials to be used for the building, which will not match others on the site. Silver grey panels and a grey roof will be much more obtrusive in a building which will be clearly visible from the AONB. Darker colours have been used to good effect elsewhere on the site. The present suggestions are aesthetically unacceptable in a rural context. Similar colours are a source of constant criticism at Premier business Park further along the A286.
• The screening of the site. We understand the need to extend the visibility splay and assume this will mean the loss of the existing laurel hedge which appears to be about fifteen feet high. We are further alarmed that drawing P102 appears to show retail development on the Birdham Road elevation. (It is not possible to tell if the car is inside the building or outside; if it is outside it is an right angles to the parking space) We would be totally opposed to any extension of the operations on this site beyond offices, warehousing and light manufacture.
• The affect of this development, close to the road, on a gateway site for Birdham. We do not wish to emulate the situation in many French villages and increasingly in this country where the first impression of a rural village is of banal, commercial development. Neither do we wish to encourage ribbon development along Birdham Straight. We note that only low level planting is envisaged along the visibility splay. There are some indications of trees on drawings P100 and SK001 but these appear perfunctory. The Council wishes to see the entire scheme screened from the road and the AONB by planting at least as high as the existing laurel hedge and extending the full length of the development at least as far as the gates to the removals warehousing. We would press for consideration of a four metre wide buffer zone between the visibility play and the car parking.
• The extra traffic movements occasioned by the further extension of the site, adjacent to the A286 which is already notorious for its heavy use at all times of the day.

The Council considers that it has enough questions about the quality, suitability and screening of this development to OBJECT to it until we have satisfactory assurances from the developer that our concerns about the preservation of the character or this part of the village have been met.

BI/07/05056/DOM – 114A, Crooked Lane, Birdham – demolition of garage and erection of 2 storey extension.

CDC decisions:

BI/07/03838/TPA – 23 Longmeadow Gardens, PO20 7HP – Crown reduce by 30% 1 no. Black poplar tree (T5) and fell 2 no. Larch trees (T6 and T&) all three subject to TPO/27/BI – PERMIT

BI/07/04056/DOM and BI/07/04058/LBC – The Thatched Cottage, Shipton Green Lane, Itchenor, PO20 7BL – construction of new three-bay single storey garage and new entrance to Itchenor Road. Existing parking are changed to garden with new fence to adjacent service access road. PERMIT

BI/07/04531/TPA – 31 Walwyn Close, Birdham PO20 7SR – Cut back to previous wound points thin by 20% south east segment, remove lowest branch overhanging school playing field on 1 no. oak (T4) subject to TPO/28/BI – PERMIT

BI/07/03759/DOM – By Harbour, Westlands, PO20 7HJ – Conservatory to rear of property – PERMIT

BI/07/04658/DOM – Yendor House, Hundredsteddle Lane, PO20 7BL – change of use of garage into ancillary accommodation (granny annexe). Change of use of loft to habitable rooms, Detached garage. PERMIT

BI/07/02832/FUL – Premier Business Park, Birdham Road, PO20 7BU – Replacement office accommodation – PERMIT

BI/07/03767/TPA – Magherymore, Claytons Corner PO20 7HQ – Removal/tidy up of damaged limbs on 1 no. horse chestnut (T2) reduction of north east sector by 2m and thin by 15% on 1 no. Silver Birch tree (T3). Re-pollard 1 no. weeping willow tree (T4). All three trees subject to TPO/32/BI – PERMIT

BI/07/04495/DOM – Windward, Westlands, PO20 7HS – Two storey and single storey side extensions and relocation of garage - PERMIT