On behalf of our client, Stewart Milne Homes (North West England) Limited, we are preparing a planning application for residential development at land south of New Brighton Road, New Brighton, Mold. The intention is to apply for planning permission for 84 new homes and associated works. This application follows a previous application at the site that was refused planning permission and subsequently dismissed at appeal by Decision Letter (DL) dated 2 February 2021. The revised scheme fully addresses the appeal DL.
We are carrying out a Pre Application Consultation (PAC) exercise for the revised scheme and thereafter the Council will receive a revised full planning application.
Implications Of The Appeal DL
The Inspector’s findings in the appeal DL are helpful in:
- Confirming that the principle of development is acceptable in this location having regard to the existing Settlement Boundary and Green Barrier designations in the UDP (the latter not being offended as the site is not within the Green Barrier).
- Establishing that the ecological survey effort deployed by the Appellant was reasonable and adequate (DL 12), extensive compensatory measures for Great Crested Newts (GCN) is not justified (DL 14), the derogation tests of the Habitats Regulations are not engaged as disturbance of GCN is unlikely (DL 17) and the proposed development would not conflict with the Development Plan, national policy or with the requirements of the Habitats Regulations (DL 18).
- That approval of a scheme would not raise issues of prematurity (DL 42 – 44).
- That surface water can be dealt with via the separate statutory SuDs approval process (DL33 – 36).
How the New Application has sought to deal with the Appeal findings
Open Space
Under the provisions of existing UDP policy and LPGN13 this would require 4,758.6m2 of open space (84 x 56.65). The revised proposals now provides an overall quantum of 6,108 m2 of open space. A much larger single area of open space is now provided to accommodate the equipped play area.
The appeal scheme included a Local Area of Play (LAP). The revised proposals provide for the provision of a Locally Equipped Area of Play (LEAP) (comprising a 400m2 activity zone with at least a 20 metre stand off to all dwellings in line with Fields In Trust (Wales) best practice and comments made on the first application.
The added advantage of the revised proposals is that they would not require the diversion of the existing Public Right of Way traversing the north west section of the site and would not require the diversion of overhead electricity lines. The appeal scheme had required the diversion of both of these routes.
Safe Route To School
With regard to the safe route to Sychdyn Primary School, the Inspector’s points are noted. It is also important to note that in relation to the safe route to school matter, the Inspector agreed with the Council in that this was an issue that could easily be resolved. In concluding the appeal the Inspector stated inter alia at Paragraph 48:
“These are matters that it should be possible to resolve quite readily, but no mechanism for doing so has been put forward.”
To assist in moving matters forward the applicant is proposing a number of potential solutions to address the safe route to school issue and these are outlined in the Safe Route to School Review report by the Applicant’s highways consultant SCP (see below).
Pre-Application Consultation
As part of the PAC process, we wanted to make you aware of the proposals and invite you to make any comments.
We are running the consultation period through June until 1 July 2021. You are welcome to make any comments via our dedicated email address feedback@houriganconnolly.com (preferred approach) or by filling in the box below. All comments received will be used to inform the planning application before it is submitted to the Council.
When the planning application has been submitted you will have a further opportunity to comment on the proposals directly to the Council as part of their own consultation process.
Draft Application Documents
Please find below a list of the various draft documents which will make up the planning application. You can open and download each document by clicking on the link.
- Leaflet and Site Notice.
- Draft Forms.
- Planning Statement.
- Hedgerow Regulations Assessment 2021.
- eDNA Survey Report.
- Precautionary Compensatory Scheme for Great Crested Newt.
- Preliminary Ecological Appraisal.
- Protected Species Report (Bats).
- Interim Reptile Survey Report.
- Bat Transect & Automated Survey Report.
- Heritage Statement.
- Noise Impact Assessment.
- Arboricultural Impact Assessment.
- Agricultural Land Classification Report.
- GeoEnvironmental Assessment Report.
- Design And Access Statement.
- Flood Consequence Assessment.
- Hydraulic Modelling Report.
- Transport Assessment.
- Safe Route to School Review.
- Boundary Treatments.
- Hard Landscaping.
- Individual Elevations.
- Location Plan.
- POS Areas Plan.
- Proposed Layout.
- Refuse Layout.
- Street Scenes.
- Tree Retention & Loss Plan.
- Play Area Design.
- Landscape Proposals.
- Preliminary External Levels Drawings.
- Longitudinal Sections.
- Preliminary Drainage Layout Drawings.
- Topographical Survey.
- House Types Floor Plans and Elevations.