Agenda item

To consider the report of the City Development Manager.

The Assistant City Development Manager presented the application for the construction of detached dwelling with associated parking and infrastructure on land to rear of 20 Countess Wear Road.

Vanessa Skelding spoke against the application. She raised the following points:-

• 47 objections had been received including immediate neighbours and from all over Exeter, including the Exeter Civic Society;
• proposal goes against Policy CP4, 7, HG1 and DG4. The development does not fit in with the variety of existing housing types and does not demonstrate a high standard of sustainable design and was out of character with the Old Countess Wear village; 
• the siting, scale and design of the development would have a poor relationship with, and overbearing impact on, Mill Road, with adverse impacts on the residential amenities particularly overlooking, loss of privacy and light from neighbours on all sides;
• volume and block-shape of this proposal is not in keeping with the adjoining buildings, with their pitched roofs; and the surrounding townscape. Use of materials would not relate to the palette in the locality;
• not in keeping with this historic area of Exeter distinctive with its lime kilns, listed thatched cottages, the paper mill and historic wharf; and
• ill-considered, oversized, disproportionate luxury home.

The recommendation was for refusal for the reasons set out in the report.

RESOLVED that planning permission for construction of detached dwelling with associated parking and infrastructure on land to rear of 20 Countess Wear Road be refused as the proposal would be contrary to Objective 9 and Policies CP4 and CP17 of the Exeter Core Strategy, Policies H2, DG1 and DG4 of the Exeter Local Plan First Review and the Residential Design Guide SPD because the siting scale and design of the development would have a poor relationship with, and overbearing impact on, No. 28 Mill Road with adverse impacts on the residential amenities of existing and future occupiers of the property, particularly in terms of loss of outlook and overshadowing in the garden area

Informatives

1.    In accordance with Paragraph 38 of the National Planning Policy Framework the Council has worked in a positive and pro-active way with the Applicant and has looked for solutions to enable the grant of planning permission. However the proposal remains contrary to the planning policies set out in the reasons for refusal and was not therefore considered to be sustainable development.

2.    In accordance with Chapters 1 and 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, this development has been screened in respect of the need for an Appropriate Assessment (AA). Given the nature of the development, it has been concluded that an AA is required in relation to potential impact on the relevant Special Protection Areas (SPA), the Exe Estuary and East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, which are designated European sites. This AA has been carried out and concludes that the development is such that it could have an impact primarily associated with recreational activity of future occupants of the development. This impact will be mitigated in line with the South East Devon European Site Mitigation Strategy prepared by Footprint Ecology on behalf of East Devon and Teignbridge District Councils and Exeter City Council (with particular reference to Table 26), which is being funded through a proportion of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) collected in respect of the development being allocated to funding the mitigation strategy. Or, if the development is not liable to pay CIL, to pay the appropriate habitats mitigation contribution through another mechanism (this is likely to be either an undertaking in accordance with s111 of the Local Government Act 1972 or a Unilateral Undertaking).