Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Director of Universal Services regarding a Planning Application for the Development and reconfiguration of a Waste Transfer Station (part retrospective) at Westwood, Unit 1, Botley Road, West End, Hampshire (Application No. CS/23/94884) (Site Ref. EA114).

Development and reconfiguration of a Waste Transfer Station (part retrospective) at Westwood, Unit 1, Botley Road, West End Hampshire SO30 3HA (No. CS/23/94884) EA114

The Committee considered a report from the Director of Universal Services (item 8 in the minute book) on an application at Westwood in West End.

The Planning Officer summarised the report, providing aerial photographs and elevations of the site and highlighting the update report that had been published.

The Committee received three deputations on this item. Local resident Terry Butler and local County Councillor Tonia Craig both spoke against the application and a representative of the applicant also attended to speak in support of the proposals.

During questions of the deputations, the following points were clarified:

·         Vehicles had been witnessed reversing out onto the road;

·         The blue line indicated on the plans was the wider area owned by the applicant;

·         West End Parish Council had been aware of the proposals since April 2023;

During questions of the officers, the following points were clarified:

·         HGV’s were able to enter, turn and exit in a forward gear and conditions are proposed relating to this matter and the vehicle turning area;

·         No accidents had been reported in the immediate area;

·         The application allowed more planning control as there currently wasn’t any for the site due to the retrospective nature of the proposal;

• The original planning application was made to Eastleigh Borough Council and they could have taken enforcement action to secure planning control following their decision to refuse the application. They chose not to and passed the matter to the County Council. The County Council did not tell EBC that they could not take action to remedy the situation. West End Parish Council were consulted on the proposal following its submission.

In debate, some Members shared concerns over the traffic in the area and it was agreed that a condition could be included to enforce that vehicles only turned right out of the site, and that consideration should be given to deliveries on match days at the Ageas Bowl through an informative. The proposed fence line was also raised as an area of concern.

RESOLVED

Planning permission was GRANTED subject to the update report and the conditions listed in Appendix A

Voting
Favour: 7
Against: 6