Change of use from high way to private garden (amended ownership certificate received 1 September 2022).
Minutes:
The committee considered planning application P22/V1851/FUL for the change of use from high way to private garden (amended ownership certificate received 1 Sept 2022), on land at Wrens Hobbit, Betty Lane, Oxford.
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 was brought to committee by the request of the planning manager. The planning officer then informed the committee that the application was for the change of use from a highway to a private garden enclosed by a timber fence. The site itself was within the Oxford Green Belt, adjacent to the applicant’s dwelling, and separated from the A34 by land of unknown ownership – although that land was not materially relevant to the application.
The planning officer noted that despite being designated as a
highway, Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, did
not have the title for the site and had no objection to the
application.
Although the parish council believed that the application would
harm linkages from Betty Lane to the garden centre to the north,
the path through the land was not a recognised public right of way
in the definitive map. In addition, the planning officer presented
the definitive map to the committee and showed members the existing
bridleway that linked Hinksey Hill to the garden centre and did not
consider the route to be inappropriate or inaccessible.
The planning officer also noted the key planning consideration for
the application about the longer-term implications its approval
would have on sustainable transport aspirations. However, as the
route was not a formally recognised right of way, there were no
proposals or initiatives to create a route, and the existing
informal route was not considered safe or accessible for
pedestrians and cyclists, officers believed there were no
reasonable right of way or sustainable transport reasons for
refusal.
Furthermore, the planning officer believed that through approving
the application, conditions could also be placed on the land to
limit hard surfacing, inappropriate boundary treatment, and to
prevent outbuildings, and so meet the green belt requirements.
Overall, as the highways authority did not object and the
application would not interfere with the sustainable transport
requirements in the local plan, officers recommended that the
application be approved subject to conditions.
Paul Barney, the applicant, spoke in support of the
application.
Councillor Debby Hallett, a local ward councillor, spoke objecting
to the application.
The committee noted that the site was currently considered a public
highway, but also that there was no objection from the
highway’s authority about its change of use into a private
garden. In addition, members recognised that there was currently no
known owner of the site as Oxfordshire County Council possessed no
title and the land was not registered with the land registry. The
planning officer also informed the committee that it was the
applicant’s intent to take possession of the land over time
if an owner did not come forward.
Members then asked about access for utilities and the planning
officer confirmed that, as part of the stopping up process, the
applicant had to consult with utilities to ask if they had any
objections, but none had come forward. In addition, the planning
officer confirmed that if the change of use was granted it would
not prevent access for those utilities.
At this stage, members considered adding an additional condition
onto the approval about requiring the applicant to provide land for
the use of a footpath if a future plan for one was made and funded,
however the committee considered this condition would not meet the
necessary planning tests and so was not included.
A question was raised about the application being part
retrospective. Although the planning officer confirmed that this
should have no material impact on the decision about the
application, a highways officer had seen a chain and some garden
pots being placed across a part of the highway. As the stopping up
process required that the highway had not already been fenced off,
the chain and pots were requested to be removed, which the
applicant had since done. The Oxfordshire County Council highways
officer had also indicated that the chain and pots had not
precluded public access as it did not extend the full width of the
site.
Finally, the planning officer clarified a point about the condition
involving the removal of permitted development rights and confirmed
that all outbuildings would not be permitted, and the provision of
hard surfacing and a garden shed would also need planning
permission.
Overall, members believed that as the highways authority had no
objection, and the land was going to be controlled through
conditions, the application was acceptable.
A motion, moved and seconded, to approve the application was
carried on being put to the vote.
RESOLVED: to approve planning application P22/V1851/FUL,
subject to the
following conditions:
Standard:
1. Commencement 3 years
2. Approved plans
Compliance:
3. External lighting
4. Gates shall be inward opening only
5. Permitted development restriction on outbuildings and boundary
treatments
Informatives:
6. Works within the Highway
7. Highway markers
8. Drainage
Supporting documents: