Winterbourne Parish Council Report - Planning

The Planning subcommittee of Winterbourne Parish Council has 8 members (half of the council). These consist of 4 from Winterbourne, 2 from Winterbourne Down/Hambrook and 2 representing Frenchay.

It comments on the planning applications within the Parish and adjacent to it e.g. Stoke Gifford or Frampton Cotterell. It has no powers to change South Gloucestershire’s planning decisions.

The comments are read by South Gloucestershire planners. In addition, it can ask for an application to be decided by the whole planning committee rather than the planning officers and can ask for a site visit.

Parish Councillors have local knowledge which South Gloucestershire planners may not be aware of. For instance, they know the busy roads where a safe exit to a site is essential; they know local parking conditions which may decide if there has to be parking within the development rather than on the street.

Parish Council planning meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of the month. In addition, if there is anything urgent which has to be commented on within South Gloucestershire’s tight time frame, extra meetings are held. The meetings are open to the public.

When Parish Councillors get the agenda for the planning meetings they look at the plans online to see what is proposed. They then visit the site of the proposed development to see the impact for themselves and may talk to neighbours to get their views.

They attend training courses from time to time to be updated on new planning regulations. They also comment on traffic matters such as the impact of closing a road for repairs.

COMMON PLANNING APPLICATIONS

Many applications are for trees to be pruned or cut down. Councillors use their local knowledge to comment on the effect this might have on the local environment. How will it affect the skyline; does it reduce screening of an ugly extension; is it a healthy specimen tree or a self sown seedling which has become too large for the space? When in doubt councillors ask for South Gloucestershire’s arboriculturist to inspect the tree.

Applications to build or extend houses in the green belt area are frequent. What starts as an application to convert an outhouse into a garage can, all too often, end up as plans to convert the building into another house, thus getting round the green belt restrictions. A good example of this is the house on the corner of Bristol Road and the Old Gloucester Road. It started as a garage and gradually evolved into a house. The owner then applied to separate it from the curtilege of the original house. This took 10 years but was finally granted and the house was sold.

Applications for a change of use are often submitted and members comment on the impact this will have on the neighbourhood if, for instance, an agricultural barn is changed into a storage depot with large lorries using small country lanes.

Sometimes the application is for a retrospective change of use and the applicants may claim that they have been using it for many years. Councillors then use their local knowledge and contacts to determine if this is true.

Being a member of the Planning Committee is often frustrating as there are firm guidelines about what are valid reasons for opposing a development. Local knowledge about the long term aims of the developer is not a planning reason why the application should be turned down. Often professional developers make numerous applications for the same site to try to maximise their profits. A house in Bristol Road was bought by a developer who applied to demolish it and build 14 apartments on the site. This was turned down. He then reapplied to build 5, then 3 houses. Permission was finally granted to build 3 houses several years ago but the developer has not, as yet, started work.

Carol Thorne
Parish Councillor, Frenchay Ward
Winterbourne Parish Council