Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bilal Akhtar, Lizzie Griffiths and Vanessa King with no substitutes.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, you must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 September 2024 which will be part of the supplementary late sheets for the meeting. A copy of the minutes will be placed on the dais prior to the meeting.

The minutes of the Planning Committee held on 11 September 2024 were agreed and signed by the Chairperson as an accurate record.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee.

Prior to the consideration of application 23/P/00417, Land adjacent to Ockham Lane, owing to the public interest, the Committee was asked to waive the Public Speaking Procedure Rules to extend the time permitted to speak from three to five minutes.  This extension of time would also apply to all committee members to give minutes which was agreed. 

The Committee considered the above-mentioned outline application for construction of up to 70 new homes (C3), the formation of a new means of access onto Ockham Lane, new footpaths and cycle routes, the creation of areas of open space and allotments, new surface water drainage, new landscaping and habitat creation, ground works and other infrastructure.

Prior to the consideration of the application, the following persons addressed the Committee in accordance with Public Speaking Procedure Rules 3(b):

·        Councillor Imogen Jamieson (Ockham Parish Council) (to object);

·        Mrs Frances Porter (Villages Against Wisley Town – VAWNT) (to object);

·        Mr Owen Jones (LRM Planning) (in support on behalf of the applicant)

The Committee received a report from the planning officer, Hannah Yates.  Changes were highlighted, as detailed in the supplementary late sheets, to a Grampian condition no.27.  The proposed change was to make this a prior to commencement condition rather than a prior to occupation condition to ensure that the Hallam scheme was not delivered before the start of the Taylor Wimpey scheme.  There was also a proposed change to the education contributions, in particular on primary provision.  Early years and secondary provision remained the same, as outlined in the report.  The Taylor Wimpey scheme was required to deliver the primary school in full and once built would fully mitigate the impact of the proposed development.  The primary school must be transferred to Surrey County Council (SCC) by the occupation of 650 units of the Taylor Wimpey application.  There would therefore be an interim period before there was any primary provision and SCC requires a proportionate payment to cover this interim period.  Planning officers considered this was necessary to meet the CIL requirements related to the development and fairly related in scale and kind.

Additional responses had also been received from Surrey County Council Fire and Rescue and Send Parish Council.  Lastly, an email had been sent from Ockham Parish Council to all councillors regarding the judicial review that the Parish Council had issued against the appeal decision on the Taylor Wimpey application.  The email stated that the case officer had misrepresented the actual position of the planning appeal on the majority of the former Wisley Airfield local plan allocation A35.  Ockham Parish Council believed it was important members were aware that the appeal was subject to a S288 statutory review in the High Court.  The next part of the process was on 5 December 2024 and until the judicial review process was completed, there could be no reliance upon the appeal conditions.  In response to those comments, planning officers believed that until the decision was quashed by the court, which may not be the case, Taylor Wimpey had an extant permission.  This was a recent and relevant planning decision that should be afforded significant weight. 

The Committee noted the application proposal for which details of access were sought now, with layout, scale, appearance and landscaping reserved for consideration later.  When considering the application, it was important to remember that detailed consideration was required  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL5

Committee members are asked to note the details of Appeal Decisions as attached at Item 6.

The Committee discussed and noted the appeal decisions.