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A decision made 17 August 2010 regarding: Edgefield shed and greenacre, La Route de Vinchelez, St. Ouen - Refusal of planning application P/2008/1989.

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2010-0091			Application Number: P/2008/1989 (If applicable)
Decision Summary Title :	Edgefield shed and greenacre, La Route de Vinchelez, , St. Ouen, JE3 2DB		Date of Decision Summary:		10 August 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Senior Planner (Appeals) – J Gladwin		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)		Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Oral and Written		Person Giving Oral Report:		Senior Planner (Appeals) – J Gladwin
Written Report Title :	Planning and Environment Department report		Date of Written Report:		09 August 2010
Written Report Author:	Senior Planner (Appeals) – J Gladwin		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)		Public
Subject: Edgefield shed and greenacre, La Route de Vinchelez, St. Ouen, JE3 2DB Demolish existing shed. Construct new shed and 2 No. 3 bed houses.
Decision(s): To refuse the aforementioned planning application for the reason as stated below. The application was discussed in a meeting within the department on the 28 July 2010 and discussed further and determined by the Assistant Minister on 10 August 2010.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Reason for Refusal is as the department recommendation and is as follows: 1. On the approved 2002 Island Plan, the application site is located in the Green Zone. Under Island Plan Policy C5 there is a general presumption against new residential development being permitted in this zone unless essentially required in connection with agriculture. This application proposal is for the construction of two houses unconnected with agriculture which considering the circumstances of this case, is not an acceptable form of development within the Green Zone and will unreasonably harm the visually sensitive character of the Green Zone. As such the proposal is contrary to Island Plan Policy C5 and is also contrary to Policy G2 (i) (General Development Considerations).
Resource Implications: None
Action required: Notify Agent, Applicant and all other interested parties
Signature:		PLeg / PT/AS Initials		Position: Assistant Minister for Planning and Environment
Date Signed:				Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Edgefield shed and greenacre, La Route de Vinchelez, St. Ouen - Refusal of planning application P/2008/1989

Planning and Environment Department

Report

Update report

Application Number

P/2008/1989

Site Address	Edgefield shed and greenacre, La Route de Vinchelez, St. Ouen, JE3 2DB.

Applicant	Jersey Royal Property Holdings Ltd

Description	Demolish existing shed. Construct new shed and 2 No. 3 bed houses.

Type	Planning

Date of update report	09/08/10

Zones	Green Zone

Summary/

Conclusion

The original department report on this application recommended the application for approval subject to a condition not allowing the two proposed houses as the proposal was contrary to Policy C5 of the Island Plan.

The application was considered by the Minister for Planning and Environment at a public meeting on 10 July 2009 at which a decision was deferred pending legal advice as to the weight that may be attached to a possible previous storage/commercial use on the site which had allegedly been in existence for a large number of years (this issue was brought up by the agriculture department and the applicant at the meeting). For background information, the original Planning Report is enclosed with this update report.

Legal advice has since been received and considered by the Department and Minister.

Since this time, negotiations have taken place between the Applicant, Planning Department Officer’s and Minister as to the design of the shed and the agricultural occupancy issue for the proposed two houses.

Plans were submitted by the architect to alter the design of the shed in line with what the Department was requesting, proposing that the shed would be constructed of a mix of render and timber and to have raised gable ends to try and reduce the impact of the roof of the shed.

As stated in the previous department report, the applicant had put forward a series of arguments in support of the two houses being for open market use, the applicant has augmented these arguments by providing financial information on the Jersey Royals operation at Edgefield and elsewhere on the Island, as well as various other letters regarding pre-application discussions and the alleged commercial operation involving the Jersey Box Company on a separate part of the application site. These letters/reports are enclosed with this report.

The Applicant has applied for two open market houses on the site, during the course of the application, the Applicant has stated that in light of the objections received from the Department regarding the open market houses element, that he would be willing to have one open market house and one house tied to agricultural workers. The applicant has submitted an agricultural justification report to back up his argument for the house and shed to the Planning Department.

The Planning Department Officer’s recommendation is and always has been that the proposed shed is acceptable and that any open market houses are not acceptable.

The original Planning Department Report dated 25/06/2009 recommended approval of the application subject to a condition in effect refusing the two houses. Following a recent Royal Court Case (Burnett v the Minister) it has become clear that we should not be ‘refusing by condition’ for what is a significant part of the application (for the two houses). Therefore if the Department find some element of the application unacceptable, the application should be refused outright unless the Applicant is willing to submit amended plans/details to overcome the unacceptable element of the application. No amended plans/details have been submitted which overcome the reason for refusal and hence the recommendation is for refusal for the reason stated below.

Officer Recommendation	Refusal

Reasons	1. On the approved 2002 Island Plan, the application site is located in the Green Zone. Under Island Plan Policy C5 there is a general presumption against new residential development being permitted in this zone unless essentially required in connection with agriculture. This application proposal is for the construction of two houses unconnected with agriculture which considering the circumstances of this case, is not an acceptable form of development within the Green Zone and will unreasonably harm the visually sensitive character of the Green Zone. As such the proposal is contrary to Island Plan Policy C5 and is also contrary to Policy G2 (i) (General Development Considerations).

Endorsed by:

Date: