Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Chris Barrass and Colin Cross.  Councillors Tim Anderson and Tony Rooth attended as substitutes for Councillors Chris Barrass and Colin Cross respectively.

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.

No disclosable pecuniary interests were declared.

20/P/02173 – Land at Burpham Court Farm, Clay Lane, Guildford, GU4 7NA and 20/P/02155 – Weyside Urban Village (Slyfield Regeneration Programme), Slyfield Green, Guildford, GU1

Councillor Fiona White declared a non-pecuniary interest in the above applications, owing to being a member of the Weyside Urban Village Governance Board and Guildford Borough Councils Major Projects Board.  Only the principles of developing the Council’s strategic sites in the Local Plan had been discussed by those Board’s and she had not made statements at any time that would prejudice her objectivity in deciding either of the above applications. 

Councillor Paul Spooner declared a non-pecuniary interest in the above applications, owing to being Chairman of the Major Projects Board until May 2019 and member of the Major Projects Board since May 2019, also formerly Lead of the Council and previously, the Lead Member for Planning Policy and Development Management in relation to the Local Plan (Weyside Urban Village as an allocated strategic site).  He confirmed he had not been involved in the details of either application and would not prejudice his objectivity in deciding either of the above applications.

Councillor Ramsey Nagaty declared a non-pecuniary interest in the above applications, owing to being a member of the Weyside Urban Village Governance Board and Guildford Borough Council’s Major Projects Board.  He confirmed that his membership of those Boards would not prejudice his objectivity in deciding either of the above applications.

Councillor Angela Gunning wished to confirm that despite being a ward councillor for Stoke for the past 25 years that this would not prejudice her objectivity in deciding either of the above applications.

The Committee considered the above-mentioned application for change of use of the site to 45.9 hectares of land to publicly accessible open space and Nature Reserve to facilitate a Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG).

The Committee received a presentation from Kelly Jethwa, Specialist Development Management (Majors). The Committee noted that the change of use would allow for the land to be used as a SANG which was mitigated in accordance with the Thames Basin Heaths Avoidance Strategy (TBHSPA) adopted by the Council.  Members were reminded that the SANG was not a land use of itself, the application was to look at the material change of use so that it could become publicly accessible land.  If the land became a SANG, its proximity to the residential development proposed at Weyside Urban Village to the south would provide valuable mitigation for that development as well as other residential development that would meet the Council’s housing needs. 

The site was referenced in Appendix 6 of the Local Plan as part of the Infrastructure Schedule.  It is located in the Green Belt and would be appropriate development as it complied with paragraph 150, Part E of the NPPF which allowed for change of use for outdoor recreation.  The proposed car park would be an engineering operation as it would preserve the openness of the Green Belt being on brownfield land or near existing development at the farmstead.  The site would also have biodiversity value added to it and would continue to act as a home for protected species. 

The Council and Natural England had worked with the applicant on refining and improving the SANG concept design to ensure that the site would provide a suitable environment.  As a result, Natural England had no objection to the proposals.  The constraints of the site needed to be taken into consideration, which included the provision of crossing points, the distance of footpaths to trees, new footpaths which would provide year-round access and odour control from the new sewage treatment works.  Taking these constraints into consideration, it was believed that the site would be able to deliver a SANG of 27.9 hectares.  Conditions were recommended in relation to the final design and SANG management plan as well as additional screening.  Land to the north of Clay Lane would require a safe crossing point and therefore at this time land would only be used as a nature reserve until a safe pedestrian access across Clay Lane could be provided.  Most of the site would have noise levels that were within acceptable levels.  The parts of the site where noise levels would be exceeded included areas by Clay Lane and by the A3 and would not be used as SANG land.  The site is also located within a flood zone, however flood mitigation measures were proposed and formed part of the management plan.  The applicant had also provided a possible circular SANG walking route from Burpham Court and the proposed car park with a secondary loop also provided.

A range  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL3

The following persons addressed the Committee in accordance with Public Speaking Procedure Rules 3(b):

·         Ms Amanda Mullarkey (on behalf of Guildford Resident’s Association);

·         Ms Sarah Beuden (in support) (Savills) and;

·         Mr Leigh Edwards (in support)

The Committee considered the above-mentioned major application for the comprehensive redevelopment of part of the allocated site for the Slyfield Area Regeneration Project (SARP) for a mixed-use development (known as Weyside Urban Village (WUV)) and is submitted as a ‘hybrid’ planning application with planning permission sought for the following:

The Committee received a presentation from the Specialist Development Management (Majors) Officer, Kelly Jethwa.  The Committee noted that the application formed part of the wider Slyfield Area Regeneration Programme which included the relocation of the existing sewage works to the north as well as the relocation of the Council’s depot and recycling facilities.  A cumulative impact would result from these combined projects that were reliant on each other to be delivered.  These projects had also been assessed as part of the Environmental statements submitted under the Environment Agency Regulations.  It was a hybrid application with full details before the Committee of the road and engineering operations which would facilitate the residential development.  The new homes, other employment sites and traveller sites were part of the outline application and would be delivered via further reserved matters applications.  The residential development would be informed by a Design Code and reviewed after each phase so that it could respond to any changes in legislation. 

The first phase of the development involved the relocation of the allotments.  A new local centre would be created on the site of the former sewage treatment works which was the largest phase of the development.  This part of the development could only start once the new sewage works were fully operational.  The local centre would be comprised of mixed uses, including employment land for the new depot as well as space for Gypsy and Traveller pitches.  The main spine road serving the site ran broadly north to south and would be a sustainable movement corridor using the existing access for Woking Road up to the Slyfield Industrial Estate.  Access through the site  ...  view the full minutes text for item PL4