Issue - meetings

Erection of rural enterprise dwelling and associated work

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Arwyn Herald Roberts

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION:

To approve contrary to the recommendation

Conditions:

·         Five years

·         In accordance with the plans

·         Measures to improve biodiversity

·         Archaeological survey

·         Drainage plan

·         Protect the public footpath

·         Withdrawal of permitted rights

·         Agricultural / rural enterprise employees’ condition

Construction of a rural enterprise house and associated work.

       Attention was drawn to the late observations form.

a)    The Assistant Head of Environment Department highlighted that the decision had been deferred at the Planning Committee meeting on 22/05/2023 in accordance with his instruction as there was significant risk to the Council in respect of the Planning Committee's intention to approve the application contrary to officers’ recommendation. The matter had been referred to a cooling-off period in accordance with the Committee’s standing orders. The purpose of reporting back to the Committee was to highlight the planning policy issues, the possible risks and the possible options for the Committee before it reached a final decision on the application.

The Members were reminded that this was a full application for planning permission to construct a rural enterprise dwelling on Uwchlaw’r Rhos Farm outside the village of Penygroes, on a site outside any village boundary as defined in the Joint Local Development Plan (JLDP).

In presenting an assessment of the Planning considerations, it was emphasised, with regard to protecting the countryside, that very special justification was required to approve the construction of new dwellings, and that applications would only be approved in exceptional circumstances. It was noted that those exceptional circumstances were contained in Technical Advice Note 6: Planning for Sustainable Rural Communities – July 2010 (TAN 6), and that one of the requirements was the need to submit information relating to the functional test, time test, financial test and the other dwellings test to prove the need and justification for constructing a dwelling in open countryside.

In respect of the functional test and the time test, it was noted that there were three partners in the business with one of the partners (the applicant's son) living on the farm permanently, working on the farm occasionally and in a position to supervise the farm's activities during difficult hours. It was added that the applicant lived 1.6 miles from the site and had done so since purchasing the business in 2018, and that the applicant's sister lived in the second dwelling on the site – a second house within the ownership of the applicant's family, which enabled sufficient supervision of the site. No information had been received indicating their intention to change the farming system, which would change the situation to necessitate a permanent presence on the land. The Council had not been convinced that robust evidence had been submitted as explicit confirmation that the applicant needed to be available permanently on the farm, considering the circumstances of the holding.

In the context of the financial test, it was noted that the applicant was required to provide financial evidence for a period of at least three years, and also assess whether the size and cost of the proposed dwelling were commensurate with the enterprise's ability to fund and maintain the dwelling without harming the ongoing viability of the enterprise, and demonstrate a reasonable prospect that the business would make earnings on the labour employed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6