Impact of Covid-19 on the planning system
During this time of social distancing the SPS team is continuing to scrutinise planning matters across the county as we work from home.
All planning committees have been suspended and emergency powers are now in place to allow councils to hold virtual planning committee meetings and councils across Suffolk are introducing and trialling new systems. However, throughout April councils have been operating interim measures which confer greater delegated powers upon officers. This novel mechanism is supported by a small number of councillors led by the planning chair and advisory panels. Applications which have attracted a lot of public interest and those involving council’s own applications have been deferred until a system allowing greater levels of public scrutiny at the decision-making stage is in place. This pragmatic response, based on advice from the Government’s Chief Planning Officer, is intended as an interim measure to keep the planning process functioning.
SPS is aware of the implications that these changes may have upon the democratic process and the concerns raised by CPRE National Office and other community groups about a loss of public engagement and scrutiny. We are closely monitoring this situation will provide future updates.
Key Involvements:
Lowestoft – 51 London Road, 9 dwellings The application relates to demolition of parts of the Old Post Office, a grade II listed building within the South Lowestoft Conservation Area and replacement with five town houses and a four-storey block of flats. The SPS welcomed the principle of redevelopment of a highly sustainable brownfield site within the town centre. However, we raised concerns relating to an inadequate heritage assessment, the scheme did not include proposals for the redundant post office and the scale, massing and design of the proposed new build elements.
Walberswick – Commonside, two dwellings The SPS has objected to the proposal for the demolition of a dwelling and introduction of two five bed dwellings. The site is within the AONB and would represent overdevelopment of the site and fail to reflect the established informal pattern of development in this part of the village.
Aldeburgh – 3-4 Thelluson Lodge, Internal and External Alterations The application is for the wholesale removal of all windows and replacement with timber double glazed windows together with internal alterations. The SPS has called for more information on the condition of all the windows identified for replacement and called for a more conservative approach of repair and secondary glazing of period joinery in order to safeguard the special interest of the listed building.
Saxmundham – Wingfield House, two dwellings This application follows on from the welcome restoration of Wingfield House, a building which has been on the Heritage at Risk list for many years. This restoration was supported by enabling development of two houses to help address the conservation deficit. The current application is for a further two dwellings within the remaining garden of Wingfield House. The application is very sparse and SPS has questioned whether further development within the curtilage can be justified and seeking further information.
Bungay – 1A Broad Street, Cash Machine The SPS has objected to the introduction of an automated telling machine (ATM) on the office of the Bungay Town Council, a listed building within the conservation area.
The ATM would disrupt the special architectural qualities of an ornate, principal elevation and we have exhorted the local planning authority (who own the building) to resist the application and seek an alternative and less visually prominent location.
Cockfield – Three Horseshoes Inn, four dwellings The SPS has raised concerns about the impact of the proposal for 4 dwellings to the rear of the pubic house upon the setting of both the listed public house and other nearby heritage assets. The outline application does not provide sufficient detail to properly assess the landscape and visual impacts of the proposals on the setting of heritage assets and the wider landscape. The SPS has queried how these impacts can be satisfactorily mitigated when the application does not permit detailed matters of siting and landscaping to be properly considered.
Babergh Mid Suffolk Sustainabilty Appraisal scoping consultation – SPS has responded to this consultation urging that local heritage documents including conservation area appraisals, local lists and historic and landscape character assessments, compiled during the Neighbourhood Plan process, should form part of local policy and baseline documents.
Outcomes of interest to SPS:
Haughley Park, 132 dwellings on former chicken processing plant – application for 134 dwellings, community space and employment area has been refused under delegated powers on heritage and sustainability grounds. SPS strongly objected to this development immediately adjacent to the grade I listed Jacobean mansion, within its parkland setting. It is a deeply unsustainable location, remote from services and without public transport links. SPS also called for plans to return the factory site to parkland and locate an employment site outside of the Park, to be pursued.
Great Finborough – 28 dwellings – SPS had reviewed this application at the request of the Mid Suffolk Heritage Team and considered the site to be within the setting of Buxhall Lodge and urged that amendments to the layout and landscaping were made to minimise harmful impacts. The application has been refused as despite some amendments the proposals remained of inappropriate scale, design and mass relative to the adjacent linear village streetscape which would result in less than substantial harm to the setting and significance of the listed building.
Westleton, retirement development –
– an application for 20 dwellings within the grounds of the vicarage and the conversion of the vicarage into communal facilities has been refused under delegated powers. Whilst supporting the contemporary design approach and the supply of homes for the elderly, SPS had raised concerns regarding the loss of glebeland and the impact on the character of the conservation area and adjacent church.
Southwold – Police Station site – SPS previously supported Southwold Town Council’s concerns regarding an outline application to redevelop this brownfield site for housing. The Town Council had hoped that a masterplan for the site, together with the neighbouring firestation site could be pursued which would develop the area for the benefit of the community. We have learnt that, at the request of the Town Council, East Suffolk District Council has recently designated the Southwold Police Station as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) which means that its owner cannot now obtain a change of use for residential development and any purchaser of the site will have to use it for community purposes.
Great Finborough – 28 dwellings – SPS had reviewed this application at the request of the Mid Suffolk Heritage Team and considered the site to be within the setting of Buxhall Lodge and urged that amendments to the layout and landscaping were made to minimise harmful impacts. The application has been refused as despite some amendments the proposals remained of inappropriate scale, design and mass relative to the adjacent linear village streetscape which would result in less than substantial harm to the setting and significance of the listed building.
Bury St Edmunds, St Andrews Street South, carpark for 334 cars – an application for a car park for 334 cars on part of the site of St Benedict’s Lower School adjacent to the grade II* listed St Andrews Castle has been withdrawn. SPS had raised concerns regarding the scale of the car park, vehicle movements and lighting and the scale and design of the dwellings may result in greater harm to its setting. However, a parallel application for 9 dwellings on the site is still being considered and we expect an amended car park scheme to be resubmitted.
Media:
- East Anglian Daily Times – Celebrities and leading Business People ask government to stop Sizewell C consent bid – SPS President, Geoffrey Probert, one of 60 signatories to letter to Alok Sharma, Business Secretary (28 April)
- East Anglian Daily Times – Director’s Column (18 April)