Wed 18th Mar 2020, John Lampon Hall, Lexden Rd at 7.30pm

Please refer to PP10 of the CBC-adopted West Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan, where the Village Design Statement policies apply:

DG3 – General Design – all proposed new build and extensions must enhance the area and make a positive architectural contribution.

DG27 – Careful consideration should be given to the visual impact of extensions and particularly conservatories, when they are visible either from the street or from public thoroughfares such as footpaths, bridleways etc.

In this application’s case the extension will be seen from the alleyway between 65 and 67 Lexden Road.

Original approval was given on PA 081956 19/11/2009, with condition 5 stating: “For the avoidance of doubt as to the scope of this permission. The building hereby shall only be occupied by dependent relatives of the residents of the main dwelling on this site known as Horsepits Farm and the ancillary residential unit hereby permitted shall not be occupied otherwise nor let independently to any other occupiers nor shall it be sold or leased independently as a separate planning unit or otherwise independently of Horsepits Farm.”

Planning Application 152337 was refused by the Borough Council on 09/12/2015 for a “Change of use of Granny Annexe to Private Dwellinghouse” siting paragraph 55 of the NPPF and reiterating that the annex building is conditioned to be used in association with the main dwelling at Horsepits Farm. The decision notice went on to state that “allowing the conversion of this rural annexe would constitute a new dwelling away from the West Bergholt settlement limits.”

Permission from CBC was approved for “application 162704  to vary condition 5 of planning permission 081956” on 12/12/2016 and then extended by PA decision 191391 on the 09/07/2019 until 31 July 2021 due to the further education of a dependent relative, but again reiterated “For the avoidance of doubt as to the scope of this permission because the development is granted solely in recognition of the personal situation and individual circumstances of this case and would not have otherwise been acceptable to the Local Planning Authority.”

The Parish Council has no comment.

The Council object to the revised layout of this planning application as the Neighbourhood Plan never envisaged three separate entrances to the NP development sites along Colchester Road, which at the very least constitute a safety hazard. The Neighbourhood Plan had a holistic approach to all three developments and would encourage the joined-up thinking between sites evident in the previous plan.

The Council would also ask for the road to continue onto the playing field at the back and that it should stop hard up against the boundary.

The Parish Council, having been provided with the CBC “Affordable Housing – Supplementary Planning Document” Consultation Draft of Jan 2020, would like to see Emerging Policy DM8 – Affordable Housing taken into account in this plan. Specifically, “Elsewhere the affordable housing mix on any site should normally be “pepper potted” throughout the scheme in groups, the size and location of which should be discussed and agreed with the Local Planning Authority”.