The Chair introduced the item to the committee and invited the Principal Planning Officer (AR) to present her report.  The Principal Planning Officer presented the application as set out in her report.

The Chair thanked the Principal Planning Officer for her report and invited to Mr Alistair Snell to speak against the application. 

Mr Snell stated that he had three points.  His property was built five years ago and during that process, a previous application for a dormer bungalow had been refused.  Mr Snell quoted from that decision, which stated that a development of that nature in that location, did not comply with the policies at that time.  He made the comparison with the situation of 62 High Road. 

Mr Snell went on to say that the residents of this area lived here because they wanted to live in an area of bungalows and did not want to be overlooked.  The development was entirely out of character with the area. 

He concluded that when his bungalow had been built, it had been constructed with the rear of the house being open, because the assumption had been that only bungalows were allowed in the area, so they would never be overlooked.  This was no longer the case should the application be granted.  He asked that the original condition of obscured glazing to the rear be reinstated. 

The Chair invited the Principal Planning Officer to respond to the points raised.  She stated that she was aware of the history and that originally a condition of obscured glazing had been imposed.  However, due to the distances between the properties and the length of the rear garden, this condition was not required and if challenged, may be found to be unjustified.  She commented that somewhat unusually, the original obscured glazing condition had been offered by the developer and accepted. 

In relation to the development being out of character for the area, the Principal Planning Officer explained that over the past five years, the design guide had changed and this current development complied with current policies.  She added that previously the dormer windows had been approved. 

The Chair thanked the Principal Planning officer for her assistance and invited Councillor Saffery to address the committee. 

Councillor Saffery stated that he disapproved of the way the developers had been dealing with the local residents and also of their disregard of the planning regulations. 

He went on to assert that this application was entirely out of character with the local area and that it allowed the bungalows to be overlooked.  He expressed his strong opinion that the council should be sending a firm message to developers that breaches of planning regulations would not be tolerated. 

The Chair thanked Councillor Saffery and added that he was highly critical of developers obtaining planning permission, then building something different. 

A number of members expressed their strong disapproval about the poor conduct of the developer and their apparent underhand tactics.  A number mentioned that they wished they could withhold planning permission because  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42