Issue - meetings

To receive and consider report 116/07 of the Strategic Director and Monitoring Officer. 

Introduction and Report Summary

Cumnor Parish Council have requested the District Council to consider designating part of Cumnor Hill and Third Acre Rise, Cumnor a conservation area.

The contact officer for this report is Grant Audley Miller, Section Head (Environmental Planning & Conservation), telephone (01235 540343).  Email address: grant audley-miller@whitehorsedc.co.uk

Recommendations

(a)               That a conservation area be not designated on the lower slopes of Cumnor Hill and Third Acre Rise for the reasons set out in paragraphs 5.5-5.7.

(b)               That instead, efforts be concentrated on the proposed design guide supplementary planning document as the appropriate means of protecting areas of low density housing in the Vale such as Cumnor Hill.

(c)               That the Executive be asked to look into the possibility of the production of some earlier document to provide guidance across the whole of the District for similar areas prior to the production of the Local Development Framework. 

(Time: 2.56pm to 3.05pm)

The Executive received and considered report 116/07 of the Strategic Director and Monitoring Officer regarding a request from Cumnor Parish Council for this Council to consider designating part of Cumnor Hill and Third Acre Rise, Cumnor as a Conservation Area.  The Parish Council was concerned that the area’s qualities were not sufficiently recognised by the Planning Authority, and that the character of the area would be lost over the next few years unless immediate action was taken. 

Local Member, Councillor Dudley Hoddinott, was invited to address the meeting.  He supported the request by the Parish Council but in view of the decision of the Development Control Committee when it considered the matter on 5 November 2007, he asked that a modified proposal was considered.  He asked the Executive to produce specific guidance for developments within designated areas of low density housing having a local distinctiveness.  This would modify recommendation (b) contained in the report.  He believed that not everywhere had a special character; some areas were more special than others.  He suggested that the guidance should be based on existing policies, emphasising benefit to the whole community, not just the local residents.  He asked for the guidance to be produced soon.  It should be based on Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 1: enhancing the quality of the environment, and Local Plan policies H10: that new developments should not harm the character of the area, and H9: avoiding the impression of town cramming.  He believed this proposal would be positive for the residents of the area.  If a Conservation Area designation was not possible, more positive guidance would be welcomed, and if it was based on existing policies it should not cause problems with planning inspectors. 

The Executive noted the recommendation of the Development Control Committee that a Conservation Area should not be designated at Cumnor Hill but instead, efforts should be concentrated on the proposed Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document as the appropriate means of protecting areas of low density housing in the Vale such as Cumnor Hill, and that the Executive should be asked to look into the possibility of the production of some earlier document to provide guidance across the whole of the District for similar areas prior to the production of the Local Development Framework.

Tabled at the meeting was an amended recommendation (c) suggesting that no further officer time and resources should be expended on investigating the possibility of producing some earlier document to provide guidance across the whole of the District for similar areas prior to the production of the Local Development Framework.  It was noted that for any guidance to have any weight in the planning process, it must go through the Local Development Framework Supplementary Planning Guidance route.  This would take significant staff resources if the guidance was produced separately from the Supplementary Planning Guidance Design Guide. 

The Executive agreed that no Conservation Area designation should be made in this case but considered that earlier guidance would have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96

To receive and consider report 95/07 of the Strategic Director and Monitoring Officer. 

Councillors Matthew Barber, Roger Cox, Terry Cox, Richard Farrell, Richard Gibson, Jenny Hannaby, Angela Lawrence, Sue Marchant, Zoe Patrick, Terry Quinlan, Jerry Patterson, Margaret Turner and John Woodford had each declared a personal interest in this item and in accordance with Standing Order 34 they remained in the meeting during its consideration.

The Committee received and considered report 95/07 of the Section Head (Environmental Planning and Conservation) which advised that Cumnor Parish Council had requested this Council to consider designating part of Cumnor Hill and Third Acre Rise, Cumnor a Conservation Area.  In considering the report the Committee had regard to the statements made earlier in the meeting by the members of the public.

The Committees’ attention was drawn to the conclusions in the report which stated that it was agreed that whilst Cumnor Hill had a mature and spacious character, it was difficult to justify that it had a character which was of special architectural or historic interest. It was noted that the Officers considered that Vale Design Guide, as a Supplementary Planning Document was considered the more appropriate method for helping to control and guide development on Cumnor Hill and other suburbs in the Vale.

Further to the report the Officer highlighted that the key point for Members to consider was whether this was an area of special character or appearance.  It was explained that a survey had been undertaken of the whole area and the surrounding street and using a check list based on the advice in “Conservation Area Appraisals” by English Heritage, the Officers had concluded that having regard to many considerations such as building; materials and their qualities; archaeology; styles; contributions; street-scape; heritage aspects; street materials etc there was nothing to say that this area was special compared to surrounding areas and other suburbs of Oxford.

The Officer reported that he had had regard to the comments of the Parish Council and commented that there was modern paraphernalia street furniture, concrete and kerbing and whilst they were pleasant they were not special.  Reference was made to the proposed designated area and Members were shown photographs looking into and out of the area.  The Officer reported that he had had difficulty in identifying any difference between the proposed area and the surrounding streets and that when compared to suburbs of similar age and style in and around Oxford and the main settlements of the Vale, these areas did not have features or characteristics that gave them special interest. 

One of the local Members commented that he agreed with the Officer’s conclusions but welcomed looking into the possibility of producing earlier informal advice which could be used in the interim for this area pending the Local Development Framework.

In response to a question raised the Committee was advised that the Conservation Officer had been the Vale’s Conservation Officer for at least 25 years and had been involved in the creation of about 10 of the current conservation areas.

One Member expressed concern at the length of time  ...  view the full minutes text for item 171