Item 23  Page 128      Shangri La, Horshoes Lane, Langley, Kent

 

Reference number: 15/508298

 

Members are advised that Langley Parish Council have lodged a formal complaint regarding the way this application is being presented to the Planning Committee considering it misrepresents the planning situation. A response has been sent to the Langley Parish Council the key points of which are set out below:

 

-       The Parish Council drew attention to the fact that the report to the Planning Committee on the 28th April 2016 was incorrect in that in the history section it referred to the application on Land South Of Horseshoes Lane, Langley for the erection of five dwellings (ref: MA/15/501236) as being allowed on appeal when in fact it was dismissed.

 

-       However this error was corrected as an update. Furthermore the text of the report to the Planning Committee made quite clear this application had been dismissed on appeal while setting out the relevance of the decision to the current proposal. In the circumstances the Planning Committee was in possession of the correct information. Regrettably this error has not been corrected in the current report before Members but the response remains the same.  

 

-       The Parish Council was under the impression the outline application for the construction of 4 dwellings with associated parking, access and landscaping on land at Little Court (ref: 15/508415/OUT) had been refused. This application is still outstanding.

 

-       Reference was made to the appeal allowed on land adjoining 3 Old Style. The Parish Council were advised its relevance had been addressed in the earlier report and that being considered by Members tonight.

 

-       It contends that as the as the Old Style site has access onto Sutton Road whereas Shangri La has access onto Horshoes Lane this has a material impact in sustainability terms. The Parish Council was advised this difference was not significant as the proposed site access is still only a relatively short distance from Sutton Road.

 

-       In connection with the future of the bus stop on Sutton Road the Parish Council advised it was their intention to remove it as it was no longer being used. It was advised the Council has allocated a number of sites for housing development on the A274 Sutton Road which are likely to bring significant improvements to public transport along Sutton Road.

 

Since this response, Arriva the bus operators confirm the bus stop is still operational but only for a small number of services using that section of the A274 which appears to be Service 24 which runs one journey on a Tuesday, Service 14 (Nu venture) which has one school journey a day and one journey on Service 59 on a Saturday.

 

-       The Parish Council also raised concerns on harm on the rural character of the area and that the purpose of the southern anti coalescence belt was being compromised. It was again referred to the Committee reports where both these issues have been addressed.

 

-       The Parish Council referred to the appeal at Boughton Lane which was for 220 dwellings and associated infrastructure. As the scale and impact of this development was far greater than the proposal currently up for consideration it was advised this did not have any particular bearing on the current application.

 

-       Regarding meeting housing need in the Borough it was advised Council now considers itself capable of demonstrating a 5 year supply of housing land.  However despite this the recommendation is still one of approval  reflecting the support for sustainable development in Government Guidance, that the site is considered to occupy a sustainable location while having minimal harm on the rural character and landscape of the locality.

 

Recommendation remains unchanged.