Agenda item

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director detailing development applications received by the Department of the Built Environment since the report to the last meeting.

A Member wanted to take the opportunity to flag that he had received feedback to suggest that there had been very limited notification provided to those who would be affected by the proposed development at The Whitbread Brewery.

Another Member questioned whether, once permission had been granted for a development, and works had commenced, could we control the timing of when works were carried out and also whether there were any rules applied as to when the works should conclude. 

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director reported that, once planning permission had been granted, there was usually a period of three years in which works could commence and planning could not determine a commencement date. Serving any sort of completion notice could be an extremely long and complex process. She added that Officers were notified of when works on a particular site commenced if this was tied to a S106 for example but were not routinely notified of this. 

The Chair suggested that this was perhaps something that Officers could consider further going forward as the length of time that some sites were undergoing construction in the City and the resulting noise and disruption was an increasingly common observation. He suggested that Officers consider what levers were at their disposal to encourage completion within a certain time frame.

Another Member highlighted that some developments led to closures of lanes of traffic or pavements which had very real impacts. In these cases, he argued that there should be enforceable deadlines around completion.

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director advised that she would look into this matter with relevant Officers.

A Member questioned if there was any update regarding the two City Point Plaza applications which the report detailed as being for temporary use of the public realm for an open air market four days per week from the 17^th June 2019 to 22^nd July 2019. Officers undertook to report back to the Member on this matter.

RECEIVED.