Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Via Microsoft Teams

Contact: Fiona Henderson 01835 826502  email  fhenderson@scotborders.gov.uk

Link: teamsliveevent

Items
No. Item

1.

Member

Minutes:

Having not been present when the following review was first considered Councillor Hamilton did not take part in the determination and left the Meeting prior to its consideration.

 

2.

Continuation; Hearing in respect of review of refusal of application for Erection of agricultural machinery dealership premises incorporating workshop, show space, office and associated works at Slaters yard Off Charlesfield Road, St Boswells - 21/00244/FUL and 21/00016/RREF pdf icon PDF 718 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

1.            Continuation of review of 21/00244/FUL

1.1         With reference to paragraph 1 of the Minute of 13 September 2021, the Local Review Body continued their consideration of the request from AB Wight Engineering Ltd c/o Murray Land & Buildings, Hillside, Dean Place, Newstead, Melrose TD6 9RL, to review refusal of the planning application for the erection of a new agricultural machinery dealership premises at Slater’s Yard, Charlesfield, St Boswells TD6 0HH.  Clarification had been requested by Members, in the form of an unaccompanied  site visit and hearing session regarding:-

 

  • the availability of Industrial land within Charlesfield Industrial Estate, St. Boswells and surrounding area;

 

Following the hearing session Members of the Local Review Body would consider all aspects of the review with no further input from the hearing attendees.

 

HEARING SESSION

1.2       The appellants Mr Gary Wight and Mr Andrew Wight together with their Agent Mr Jamie Murray were in attendance at the Hearing to present their case.  Speaking on behalf of Scottish Borders Council’s Forward Planning Service was Mr Charles Johnston, Principal Officer, Plans and Research.  A Hearing statement on behalf of the appellants had been circulated.  A statement by Mr Johnston had also been circulated.

 

1.3       Mr Murray, on behalf of his clients explained that the Industrial Land within Charlesfield Industrial site had been divided into Zones and was owned by three owners.  Zone A was for sale as the former owners Alexander Inglis & Son, grain merchants had entered administration, but the use of the land would remain the same.  The land east was effectively a ransom strip and would be sold as part of the whole grain plant, neither land parcels in Zone A had been marketed or available prior to the former owners entering administration and there was nothing to suggest that this would change.  Zone B was owned by Iona Environmental Infrastructure Holdco Ltd who owned and ran St Boswells Biogas Plant.  Part of the larger southern parcel was under planning application for a distillery and was only ever likely to be developed by the owners of the land for their own use, it was not available to third parties and none of it had been marketed for sale or let in the local plan period.     Zone C was owned by James McCorquodale and was not readily developable without significant infrastructure installation, based on a larger development and was therefore not available in the short or medium term.  Whilst an Employment Land Audit was carried out by SBC in 2019, this was not a suitable rebuttal to the lack of land’s availability.  A survey or box ticking exercise cannot get away from the fact that the land had not been marketed for sale or let in this period to date.  Furthermore, discussions by the Applicants with the three landowners, advised that none of these sites were available to them in the short to medium term.  Whilst the zoning of land had a place and it was a requirement of the Town & Country Planning (Scotland) Act, to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Consider request for review of refusal of application in Principle for erection of dwellinghouse, formation of new access and associated work on Plot 1, site adjacent to Stroma, Charlesfield Industrial Estate, St Boswells - 21/00839/PPP and 21/00022/RREF pdf icon PDF 318 KB

Copies of the following papers attached:-

Additional documents:

Minutes:

review of 21/00839/PPP

There had been circulated copies of the request from Mr Trevor Jackson, per Ferguson Planning, 54 Island Street, Galashiels to review the decision to refuse the planning in principle application for the erection of dwellinghouse, formation of new access and associated work on Plot 1,  Site Adjacent to Stroma, Charlesfield  St Boswells.  The supporting papers included the Notice of Review; Decision Notice; Officers report; papers referred to in the Officer’s Report; objection comments, consultation replies, additional information and List of Policies.  Members firstly considered whether there was a building group in the vicinity under Clause A of Policy HD2 and noted that there were a number of existing houses in the immediate vicinity alongside the road to the north of the site, together with a further dwellinghouse known as “Westlea” formed from a conversion adjoining the site to the south-west.  After considering all relevant information, the Local Review Body concluded that the development was consistent with Policies HD2 and HD3 of the Local Development Plan and relevant Supplementary Planning Guidance. There was a difference of opinion amongst Members as to whether or not development was considered to be an appropriate infill addition between the building group and the industrial estate, and if any impacts from the industrial estate being known to incoming residential occupants were able to be mitigated.

 

VOTE

Councillor Ramage, seconded by Councillor Moffat moved that the decision to refuse the

application be upheld.

 

Councillor Small, seconded by Councillor Richards, moved as an amendment that the

decision to refuse the application be reversed and the application approved.

 

As the meeting was conducted by Microsoft Teams members were unable to vote by the normal show of hands and gave a verbal response as to how they wished to vote the result of which was as follows:-

 

Motion - 2 votes

Amendment - 4 votes

 

The amendment was accordingly carried and the application approved, subject to

Conditions and a legal agreement to secure developer contributions.

 

DECISION

DECIDED that:-

 

(a)          the request for review had been competently made in terms of Section 43A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

 

(b)          the review could be considered without the need for any further procedure on the basis of the papers submitted;

 

(c)          the proposal would be consistent with the Development Plan; and

 

(d)          the officer’s decision to refuse the application be reversed and planning permission be granted, subject to conditions, for the reasons detailed in Appendix I to this Minute.

 

4.

Consider request for review of refusal of application in Principle for Erection of dwellinghouse, formation of new access and associated work on Plot 2, Land South of the Bungalow, Charlesfield, St Boswells - 21/00840/PPP and 21/00023/RREF pdf icon PDF 318 KB

Copies of the following papers attached:-

Additional documents:

Minutes:

1.         review of 21/00840/PPP

There had been circulated copies of the request from Mr Trevor Jackson, per Ferguson Planning, 54 Island Street, Galashiels to review the decision to refuse the planning in principle application for the erection of dwellinghouse, formation of new access and associated work on Plot 2, Land South of The Bungalow Charlesfield, St Boswells.  The supporting papers included the Notice of Review; Decision Notice; Officers report; papers referred to in the Officer’s Report; objection comments, consultation replies, additional information and List of Policies.  After considering all relevant information, the Local Review Body concluded that the development was consistent with Policies HD2 and HD3 of the Local Development Plan and relevant Supplementary Planning Guidance. There was a difference of opinion amongst Members as to whether or not development was considered to be an appropriate infill addition between the building group and the industrial estate, and if any impacts from the industrial estate being known to incoming residential occupants were able to be mitigated.

 

VOTE

Councillor Ramage, seconded by Councillor Moffat moved that the decision to refuse the

application be upheld.

 

Councillor Small, seconded by Councillor Richards, moved as an amendment that the

decision to refuse the application be reversed and the application approved.

 

As the meeting was conducted by Microsoft Teams members were unable to vote by the normal show of hands and gave a verbal response as to how they wished to vote the result of which was as follows:-

 

Motion - 2 votes

Amendment - 4 votes

 

The amendment was accordingly carried and the application approved, subject to

Conditionsand a legal agreement to secure developer contributions.

 

DECISION

DECIDED that:-

 

(a)        the request for review had been competently made in terms of Section 43A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

 

(b)          the review could be considered without the need for any further procedure on the basis of the papers submitted;

 

(c)          the proposal would be consistent with the Development Plan; and

 

(d)          the officer’s decision to refuse the application be reversed and planning permission be granted, subject to conditions, for the reasons detailed in Appendix II to this Minute.

 

5.

Consider request for review of refusal of application for Alterations and extension to dwellinghouse at Whinfield, Chesters Brae, Chesters, Hawick - 21/00074/FUL and 21/00024/RREF pdf icon PDF 212 KB

Copies of the following papers attached:-

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Review of 21/00074/FUL

There had been circulated copies of the request from Mr Ehsan Alanizi, per Stuart Patterson Building & Timber Frame Design to review the decision to refuse the planning application for the alterations and extension to dwelinghouse at Whinfield, Chesters Brae, Chesters, Hawick.  The supporting papers included the Notice of Review; Decision Notice; Officers report; papers referred to in the Officer’s Report; additional Information and List of Policies.  The Planning Adviser drew attention to new evidence on the site, in the form of a supporting letter from the applicant’s employer, Jedburgh Family Dental Practice. Members agreed that the information was new and considered that it met the Section 43B test, that it was material to the determination of the Review and could be considered.  After considering all relevant information, the Local Review Body concluded that consent for the development was consistent with Policies PMD2 and HD3 of the Local Development Plan and relevant Supplementary Planning Guidance.  The property was not listed or within a conservation area and the development was considered to be an appropriate extension to Whinfield Cottage which would retain the original stone work of the cottage and would have a natural slate roof.  The Members noted the existence of a variety of building styles and forms in the immediate vicinity and did not consider that the proposed alterations and extension would have an adverse impact on the neighbouring properties.  The application was therefore approved subject to the conditions listed in the Appendix.

 

DECISION

AGREED:-

 

(a)       The request for review had been competently made in terms of Section 43A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

 

(b)       new evidence submitted with the Notice of Review in the form of a supporting letter from the applicant’s employer, Jedburgh Family Dental Practice met the test set in Section 43B of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and was material to the determination.

 

(c)       the review could be considered without the need for any further procedure on the basis of the papers submitted;

 

(d)     the proposal would be in keeping with the Development Plan; and

 

(e)     the officer’s decision to refuse the application be reversed and planning permission be granted, subject to conditions, for the reasons detailed in Appendix III to this Minute.

 

 

CONTACT US

Scottish Borders Council

Council Headquarters Newtown St. Boswells Melrose TD6 0SA

Tel: 0300 100 1800

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