Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed those present and explained the process to be followed on hearing of each application.

Apologies were received from Councillors Tony Carey (substitute Cllr Eddy) and Clive Stevens (substitute Cllr English).

To note any interests relevant to the consideration of items on the agenda.

Please note that any declarations of interest made at the meeting which are not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

Councillor Hickman stated that in relation to Application Number 18/05628/F, she and her Ward colleague, Councillor Jama, had referred the application to Committee. She had not however made her mind up about the application.

Councillor Davies stated that his employer had made a comment on Application Number 18/05628/F.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record.

Resolved – that the Minutes of the above meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To note appeals lodged, imminent public inquiries and appeals awaiting decision.

He highlighted two of the Appeals. No. 31 - Wilder Street was refused and a decision is awaited. Nos. 35 and 36 - Brunswick Square were refused by Officers but the Appeals were allowed.

To note recent enforcement notices.

There were no Enforcements to report.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item *Democratic Services Officer check time limit for your particular Committee*

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on *name deadline date*

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on *name deadline date*.

Please note, your time allocated to speak may have to be strictly limited if there are a lot of submissions. This may be as short as one minute.

Members of the Committee received Public Forum Statements in advance of the meeting.

The Statements were heard before the application they related to and were taken fully into consideration by the Committee prior to reaching a decision.

The Committee considered the following Planning Application:

The Head of Development Management and his representative gave a presentation and summarised the report for this item including the following:

·                This is a full application for a standby gas generator and associated infrastructure

·                The key issues

·                The details of the consultation

·                The reasons for recommending approval of the application

Questions and Answers

·                The policy relating to securing a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (below residual levels) is set out in BCS14.  This requires a building to be made more thermally efficient, for example, by using insulation.  Then a further 20% reduction in carbon emissions should be secured through the use of renewable energy.  However, when this policy was written, standby gas generators and similar schemes had not been developed.  The policy was not written for such development and is therefore not considered reasonable to apply to the current application.    There is one area where the impact of the plant is not 'negligible' in terms of hourly NO2 increases resulting from the proposed plant.  This is a car park to the northwest of the site. However, resultant pollutant levels would still be well within Air Quality Assessment Level defined limits (these are national and EU levels, which are considered to be acceptable in terms of impacts of pollutants on health and the environment).  Officers did not consider that this would prejudice any future development of the site.  Officers reiterated that the plant does not cause any breaches of air quality objectives.In relation to wind speeds, the applicant’s model used previous metrological data to model speeds and direction and how this affected the dispersal of pollutants.

·                In relation to whether this application would have been recommended for approval if it were located in a different part of the City, each application is treated on its merits including the local environment, the designated land use and planning policies. This site is within a predominantly commercial area  which is designated as a Principle Industrial and Warehousing Area (PIWA) in the Local Plan.

·                Planning cannot normally take financial issues into account.

·                Policies will change, but BCC can only judge the application against the current policies; policies are changed through the Local Plan and this process is going on now; policies have to go through a process of consultation and be examined by an Inspector prior to being formally adopted.  The Local Planning Authority can only give limited weight to emerging policies.

  The noise levels in the area are already above recommended levels for schools and offices.  The increased noise from the generator would not be perceptible; the additional noise from the generator would be absorbed into the background noise.  Officers have carefully considered the noise reports and have sought clarification and additional information on noise-related issues, and are satisfied with the conclusions.

Debate

·                There is a history of residential and industrial development in the area

·                A lot of modelling has been carried out to measure the actual effects on health (arising from pollutants and increased noise), and it is not considered that there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

19^th June 2019 at 2.00 pm.

19^th June 2019 at 2.00 pm.