Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2019 be confirmed.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

Councillor Bill Bilton declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Application for Development: Site of Former Windmill Pine, Beevor Street, Lincoln'. Reason: His wife worked at Morrison's supermarket, Lincoln, joint applicants for the proposed development.

He left the room during the discussion of this agenda item and took no part in the vote on the matter to be determined.

In the interest of transparency, Councillor Vaughan requested it be noted that he sat as Vice-Chair on the Upper Witham Drainage Board.

The Arboricultural Officer:

a.    advised members of the reasons for proposed works to trees in the City Council’s ownership and sought to consent to progress the works identified, as detailed in Appendix A of the report

b.    explained that Ward Councillors had been notified of the proposed works.

Members referred to overgrowth on the Riverside cycle path in the city which had now been cut back. It was suggested that it would be useful for the Council to consider joint working with the County Council to put bark at the side of the track to help alleviate future problems, at the same time as saving money and further complaints from cyclists.

The Arboricultural Officer reported that he understood the bark accumulated from contractor’s works became their property as part of their agreement with the council. He would however speak to his manager about this proposal.

Members also referred to a letter written to the Aboricultural Officer asking whether timber felled in St Helen’s Church Yard could be left there in suitable places as habitat for insect life.

The Arboricultural Officer advised that there was potential for scrub left on burial land to be considered controversial by the church authorities. As a compromise it had been agreed that a section of the bale of the trees would be left for natural habitat to enjoy.

RESOLVED that tree works set out in the schedules appended to the report be approved.

(Councillor Bill Bilton left the room for the remainder of the meeting having declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the matter to be considered. He took no part in the discussion or vote on the matter to be determined).

The Planning Manager:

a.    reported that planning permission was sought for the erection of 51 town houses on the former Windmill Pine site, Beevor Street, Lincoln to comprise 42, 6 bed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) falling within C4 Use Class, as well as two nine bed and seven 13 bed HMO’s falling within the Sui Generis Use Class, a total of 361 en-suite bed spaces including seven accessible ground floor en-suite bedrooms

b.    advised that the development would also involve the creation of 99 parking spaces with vehicular access from Beevor Street and a new pedestrian link to Tritton Road

c.    reported that the town houses would be arranged in a series of seven, four storey linear blocks overlooking private and secure landscaped courtyards, with controlled access to the development at the entrance and a single storey reception/plant building adjacent, which would both police the site and provide an information point for visitors

d.    added that a new pedestrian link to Tritton Road would be created between Morrisons’ car park and the Coulson drain, Morrisons PLC being joint applicants for the proposed development

e.    reported that the site was located within Flood Zone 3

f.     provided details of the history to the application site as detailed within the officer’s report

g.    provided details of the policies pertaining to the application, as follows:

·         Policy LP1: A Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development

·         Policy LP2: The Spatial Strategy and Settlement Hierarchy

·         Policy LP9: Health and Wellbeing

·         Policy LP10: Meeting Accommodation Needs

·         Policy LP12: Infrastructure to Support Growth

·         Policy LP13: Accessibility and Transport

·         Policy LP14: Managing Water Resources and Flood Risk

·         Policy LP16: Development of Land affected by Contamination

·         Policy LP25: The Historic Environment

·         Policy LP26: Design and Amenity;

·         Policy LP32: Lincoln’s Universities and Colleges

·         National Planning Policy Framework;

h.    outlined the responses made to the consultation exercise

i.      referred to the update sheet which included a final response from Lincolnshire County Council acting in their capacity as Local Highway and Lead Local Flood Authority, together with comments from Morrison’s Planning Consultant and a revised proposed officer recommendation in respect of the planning application

j.      advised members of the main issues to be considered as part of the application to assess the proposal with regard to:

·         Principle of Use

·         Developer Contributions

·         Visual Amenity

·         Impact on Residential Amenity and Neighbouring Uses

·         Access and Highways

·         Flood Risk and Drainage

·         Contaminated Land

·         Trees

k.    concluded that:

·         The principle of the use of this unallocated site for student accommodation was considered to be acceptable.

·         The layout, scale and design of the development was acceptable, improving on the architectural style of the local surroundings.

·         It was not considered that the impact on the residential amenities of the occupants of Valentine Court or the amenities of neighbouring uses would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.