(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 no weight and would divert resources away from the Local Development Framework. However, the Executive agreed with the Local Member that the proposed design guide supplementary planning document should protect areas of low density housing having a local distinctiveness in parts of the Vale, such as Cumnor Hill, and agreed that recommendation (b) should be amended accordingly.
RESOLVED
(a) that a Conservation Area be not designated on the lower slopes of Cumnor Hill and Third Acre Rise, Cumnor for the reasons set out in paragraphs 5.5-5.7 of report 116/07;
(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 having a local distinctiveness in parts of the Vale such as Cumnor Hill; and
(c) 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.