Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Committee considered an application for the demolition of buildings and the redevelopment of the site to provide a residential care community (Use Class C2) comprising of 152 units of accommodation, with associated communal facilities, parking, landscaping, and associated infrastructure.  The redevelopment included the extension and refurbishment of existing buildings for use by Young Epilepsy.  The buildings would also have associated landscaping and parking.

The redevelopment also included works to an existing link between a farmhouse and a listed barn and the conversion of a vacant and redundant granary to a picnic barn which would have storage space within the upper floor.  Further, a courtyard area to the south of the farmhouse, alongside the abovementioned barn and granary would be landscaped to form a new courtyard space to complement the existing and proposed uses in the listed buildings.

The recommendation of the Interim Chief Planning Officer was to permit planning permission and to grant the associated listed building consent.

Mr Mark Devlin, the Chief Executive of Young Epilepsy, spoke in favour of the application.

Councillor Sir Nicholas White requested that the following motions for refusal of the application for planning permission be considered by the Committee: 

1.    The proposed development would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt causing significant harm to the openness and visual amenities of the Green Belt. No very special circumstances exist to clearly outweigh the harm by reasons of inappropriateness and other identified harm. As such, the proposal is contrary to the provisions of Policies DP10 and DP13 of the Tandridge Local Plan Part 2: Detailed Policies, and the provisions of the National Planning Policy Framework 2021 with respect to protection from built development of Green Belts.

2.    The proposed development by reason of its location outside of an established settlement would constitute an unsustainable form of development resulting in its residents being reliant solely on private means of transport for trips away from the site and on deliveries of goods for a significant part of their shopping needs. As such, the development would not comply with the provisions of Policy CSP1 of the Core Strategy, DP1 of the Tandridge Local Plan Part 2 Detailed Policies and the National Planning Policy Framework 2021.

Councillor Moore proposed both motions and they were seconded by Councillor Chris Farr. Upon being put to the vote, both motions were lost.

R E S O L V E D – that planning permission and listed building consent be granted, subject to conditions.