Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Dahdouh, Hill, Luff and Maisey.

To receive Declarations of Interest in relation to planning matters.

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 21 January 2025.

RESOLVED   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 21^st January 2025 were approved as a correct record.

(Note: For access to information purposes, the background papers for the applications listed in the above schedule are the application itself and subsequent papers as listed in the relevant file.)

Representations were received and taken into account by the Committee in respect of Applications:

Hybrid planning application for the extension to the existing business park comprising:

(i) Outline application for Zones A, D and E (with all matters reserved except access) for employment floor space within Use Classes B1, B2 and B8 and relocated car parking.

(ii) Full application for Zones B and C for employment floor space within Use Classes B1, B2 and B8.

The Majors and Environment Team Manager introduced the report and provided an overview of the application highlighting the following key considerations:

• The proposed development would be situated at a business park located at Aston Down airfield outside the settlement of Minchinhampton. Part of the site was located within the Cotswold District who had a duplicate planning application to determine the application in their area to consider the development as a whole. The majority of site and access would be in the Stroud District boundary.
• The proposed development was a planning application for commercial and employment developments.
• The outline of the planning application sought permission with all matters reserved except for access. This comprised of a floorspace of 4,367m2 across 5 units in use which classed B1 (Business), B2 (General Industrial) and B8 (Storage and Distribution). Displaced parking in Zone E was proposed under the outline element.
• The detailed part of the planning application sought permission for 8,864m2 of employment floor space across 14 units within use classes B1 (Business), B2 (General Industrial) and B8 (Storage and Distribution).
• The buildings had been designed with a modern appearance using modern materials.
• Located within an existing employment site which was allocated within the current Stroud District Council (SDC) Local Plan within the National Landscape.
• National Policy outlined the Planning Authority must give great weight to conserve and enhance the National Landscape which restricts major developments, similar to the SDC Local Plan, unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. The Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) was also sought to preserve and enhance the National Landscape.
• The Agent submitted additional information to demonstrate that exceptional circumstances existed and that they outlined specific employment benefits which the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) supported, and that these benefits must be given positive weight in the planning balance.
• The latest employment land data outlined the district had a surplus of 5.59 hectares of employment land that suggested there was no shortfall of employment land within the Stroud District. Although the site could benefit the district, the application did not reach the high policy test for exceptional circumstances or that there was an override in public interest in the National Landscape to grant the application.
• There was an extra duty placed on the Planning Authority by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act that outlined the need to demonstrate extra steps as opposed to only mitigating the potential harm within a major development in the National Landscape. The scheme was seen within the context of the existing site and did provide some mitigation, however it did not demonstrate furthering the aims of the National Landscape.
• Minchinhampton Parish Council and some local residents raised highway concerns regarding the traffic flow which echoed the NDP regarding traffic moving across the site and Common.
• Gloucestershire Highways did not raise a safety concerns and were satisfied that SDC could mitigate any issues.
• A principal issue whether it would be an appropriate major development in the National Landscape as opposed to a highway safety concern.
• Ecology and  ...  view the full minutes text for item DCC.037

To present the 2024/25 forecast outturn position against the revenue budgets that the Committee is responsible for, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget.

Councillor Baxendale proposed and Councillor Fenton seconded.

After being put to a vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.