Field 621, La Route de Noirmont, St. Brelade: Planning Application (RP/2015/0336): Appeal Decision

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A decision made 23 March 2016:

Decision Reference: MD- PE- 2016 – 0048
Decision Summary Title:	Appeal Decision – RP/2015/0336 Field No. 621, La Route de Noirmont, St. Brelade		Date of Decision Summary:	17 March 2016
Decision Summary Author:	Judicial Greffier		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	Judicial Greffier
Written Report Title:	Report to the Minister for Planning and Environment		Date of Written Report:	24 February 2016
Written Report Author:	Roy Foster MA MRTPI		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Appeal under Article 108 of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 against a refusal to grant planning permission at Field No. 621, La Route de Noirmont, St. Brelade (RP/2015/0336)
Decision: The Minister dismissed the appeal under Article 116 of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002. The original decision of the Chief Officer dated 11 June 2015 is maintained.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Minister did not give full effect to the recommendation of the Inspector. In doing so, the Minister considered that Field 621 was previously defined by the 2002 Island Plan as being within the built-up area but later it became included in the Green Zone within the Island Plan Policy NE7 and sets a general presumption against the development of new dwellings. Despite this, the acceptability of one dwelling on the site has been conceded since 2004. Following an action in the Royal Court, outline planning permission for one dwelling was granted in 2010. This was followed by the reserve matters approval in 2011. A further application was subsequently approved in July 2014. The Minister considered the Inspector’s report and in particular drawing 4946/14B which indicates the front and rear elevations of the proposed house in relation to those of the neighbouring houses Sherwood and Somenos. The Minister also considered drawing 4946/15B which shows the side elevations and in both drawings with a blue and red line making the comparisons with the 2014 and the 2011 schemes. Although the principle of development has already been accepted, the earlier permissions required the scale, form and position of the development to respect the specific nature of the site and not simply to conform and continue the pattern scale and design of other developments along Route de Noirmont. In the Planning Committee’s view, raising the level of the building by one metre would run counter to the original design concept, upset the agreed balance and undermine the previous efforts to achieve a sympathetic bespoke development and harm the landscape character of the Green Zone. Although the highest part of the proposed building would indeed be the same as that in the reserve matters scheme of 2011, the front elevation facing the road would be around 750 millimetres taller than the 2011 approval and a metre higher than the 2014 scheme. Although planning history of the site provides a clear exception to the presumption against the development in the Green Zone, policy NE7 still requires that any exception should not cause serious harm to the landscape character. The question therefore is whether the height difference was between this and the two earlier schemes that have been approved are such that serious harm is now identifiable. While this scheme would still follow the basic approach of its predecessors and result in a low profile scheme, the Minister agreed with the Planning Committee that the third application now has the harmful effect required to bring policy NE7 into effect.
Resource Implications:- None
Action required: Request the Judicial Greffe to inform interested parties of the decision.
Signature: Deputy S Luce		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):