Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 1, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE

Contact: Emily Barry  Democratic Services Officer, Tel. 07717 272442

Items
No. Item

125.

Chair's announcements

To receive any announcements from the chair, and general housekeeping matters.

Minutes:

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the meeting procedure to be followed. She also explained the emergency evacuation procedure.

126.

Apologies for absence

To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members. 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Max Thompson and Councillor Jenny Hannaby, who was substituted for Councillor Paul Barrow.

127.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 281 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Planning Committee minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2023. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2023 as a correct record and agree that the Chair sign these as such.

128.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

129.

Urgent business

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent. 

Minutes:

There was no urgent business.

130.

Public participation

To receive any statements from members of the public that have registered to speak on planning applications which are being presented to this committee meeting. 

Minutes:

The committee noted the list of the members of the public who had registered to speak at the meeting.

131.

P22/V2435/FUL - Land to the north of Frome Road, Harwell Campus, Didcot, OX11 0FD pdf icon PDF 389 KB

Erection of two employment buildings, with associated car parking and landscaping.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee considered planning application P22/V2435/FUL for the erection of two employment buildings, with associated car parking and landscaping, on land to the north of Frome Road, Harwell Campus, Didcot.  

 

Consultations, representations, policy and guidance, and the site’s planning history were detailed in the officer’s report, which formed part of the agenda pack for the meeting. 

 

The planning officer introduced the report and highlighted that the application sought planning permission for 2 new buildings to be used for vaccine research and manufacture. He also highlighted that the application was brought to the committee due to the objection of Chilton Parish Council.

 

The planning officer informed the committee there were two updates since the report had been written. Firstly a further letter of comment on heritage had been received which suggested moving building two northwards to avoid the runway. Secondly a further letter of objection had been received highlighting potential impact on residential amenity and their privacy. The planning officer also detailed that there was updated wording for condition 27 in appendix 3 to which the applicant and Oxfordshire County Council archaeologist had agreed.

 

The planning officer informed the committee that the site was located to the north of Frome Road and to the east of Synchrotron on Harwell Campus. The layout of the site was influenced by its immediate context and operational factors. Vehicle access to the site was via the perimeter road off Newbury Road with a sperate HGV access via Frome Road to the south of the site.

 

The planning officer highlighted that the proposal would result in the loss of a grass playing field which would be replaced with a new pitch to the north of the development. The proposal also included offsite highway improvement works comprising partial signalisation of the western roundabout of Chilton interchange. These highways improvements had been agreed by both National Highways Agency and Oxfordshire County Council and had been secured in a completed S106 legal agreement.

 

The planning officer informed the committee that the non-designated catapult structure as referred to in the report is the remains of the catapult system and there were no longer any mechanical elements of the catapult on site.

 

The planning officer informed the committee that the principle of development was acceptable and the site was allocated for development in the local plan and is within a designated enterprise zone.

 

With regards to the concerns raised by Chilton Parish Council on highways grounds officers were of the view that suitable mitigation works were included in the application. Furthermore, The National Highways Agency and Oxfordshire County Council as highways authority no longer objected to the application.

 

The planning officer also noted that the impacts on non-designated heritage assets was also acceptable and were subject to conditions as set out in the report. The planning officer detailed the proposed amended wording for the relevant condition (condition 27).

 

In summary the planning officer believed there were no technical reasons to withhold permission for the proposal.

 

Councillor Chris Broad spoke on behalf  ...  view the full minutes text for item 131.

 

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