Issue - meetings

Planning Applications Report

Meeting: 01/10/2020 - Planning, Regulatory & General Licensing Committee (Item 11)

11 Planning Applications Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To consider the report of the Team Manager Development Management.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Team Manager Development Management.

 

Application No. C/2020/0148

The Bridge, Station Approach, Pontygof, Ebbw Vale

Change of use to Nursery, Bin Storage, Escape Stair, Landscaping and Associated Car Park

 

The Service Management Development & Estates outlined the planning application and noted that planning permission had previously been refused by the Committee on 11th February, 2020. The Service Manager advised that the reason for refusal was that the site was located within a flood zone C2 as defined by TAN 15 and National planning policy advised that highly vulnerable use such as the proposed nursery should not be permitted in such an area. The current application was a resubmission which seeks to overcome that reason for refusal.

 

The Service Management Development & Estates added that the application details are the same as those submitted previously, apart from the addition of a Technical Note on Flood Risk for the site which had been commissioned by the Applicant. The technical note was in the form of Flood Consequence Assessment (FCA) which examined the likely cause of flooding and the risks.

 

The Service Manager Development Management drew Members attention to external consultation and the response from Natural Resource Wales (NRW). The NRW stated that the site lies entirely within Zone C2 as defined by the Development Advice Map (DAM) referred to in Technical Advice Note 15: Development and Flood Risk (TAN15). The TAN 15 framework also referred to the vulnerable development category which as noted a nursey was in this group. The applicants FCA had been received and the Service Manager outlined the points of the review and noted that in accordance with the FCA no objection was raised to the proposed development. However, the application site remained in Zone C2 and the submission of the FCA would not alter this fact. The Local Authority should therefore determine this application based on the location being within Zone C2.

 

It was further informed that the DAM zones could be challenged and a flood map challenge would need to be

submitted on completion of any proposed works. However, NRW are not currently accepting flood map challenges, pending an update to TAN15 by Welsh Government.

 

The Service Manager noted that the tests should only be applied to low vulnerable development in Zone C2. This development was highly vulnerable. The FCA and the tests in TAN 15 are not to be applied to highly vulnerable developments. Therefore, consideration of the proposed development in relation to the justification and acceptability tests was a misinterpretation of the policy and the requirements of TAN 15. Although this was a critical point, the Service Manager also acknowledged that the FCA concluded the threshold of flooding was largely, but not entirely, in accordance with the guideline values outlined in TAN 15.

 

The Service Manager concluded that this application was of a complex nature. There was the benefit of creating local jobs as well as enhancement to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11