Agenda and minutes

Northern Area Planning Committee - Tuesday, 9th December, 2025 10.00 am

Venue: Stour Hall - The Exchange, Old Market Hill, Sturminster Newton, DT10 1FH. View directions

Contact: John Miles  01305 224877 - Email: [email protected]

Note: Our apologies but due to technical difficulties on the day, a recording of this meeting is not available. 

Items
No. Item

100.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Les Fry and Sherry Jespersen.

 

101.

Declarations of Interest

To disclose any pecuniary, other registerable or non-registerable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

 

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

102.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held 28th October 2025.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14th and 28th October 2025 were confirmed and signed.

 

103.

Registration for public speaking and statements

Members of the public wishing to speak to the Committee on a planning application should notify the Democratic Services Officer listed on the front of this agenda. This must be done no later than two clear working days before the meeting. Please refer to the Guide to Public Speaking at Planning Committee.  Guide to Public Speaking at Planning Committee

 

The deadline for notifying a request to speak is 8.30am on 5th December 2025.

Minutes:

Representations by the public to the Committee on individual planning applications are detailed below. There were no questions, petitions or deputations received on other items on this occasion.

104.

P/RES/2023/06629, Land at Park Farm, Kingsmead Business Park, Gillingham pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Erect 316 No. dwellings with associated open space, access, sustainable urban drainage, and infrastructure.  (Phase 1 Reserved Matters application to determine appearance, landscaping, layout and scale; following the grant of Outline Planning Permission No. 2/2018/0077/OUT).

Minutes:

With the aid of a visual presentation including plans and aerial photographs, the Case Officer identified the site and explained the proposal and relevant planning policies to members. Photographs of the outline location plan and the illustrative master plan was shown to the Committee. She corrected typos in Section 4 of the report under key planning issues; 32 units were proposed for affordable housing and 16 were shared ownership not 17. There would be 10% affordable housing, and the plans provided sufficient garden space. There would be 706 parking spaces and 259 located in garages. Some changes had been made to the layout with consultation with highways. The council flood risk management team raised no objections to the strategy. Energy saving methods were incorporated into the site, with low water use and low-e double glazing, and sustainable drainage. Climate change adaptation measures had been implemented to achieve reduction in co2 emissions by 60%. Significant existing trees were maintained throughout and new trees planted. The opportunities for biodiversity were maximised. The great crested newt habitat was maintained, and a series of bird boxes, hedgehog highways and bat boxes were widely spread across the site. There was courtyard surveillance in areas and there were no material considerations that would warrant refusal of the application.

 

Public Participation

There was no public participation.

 

Members questions and comments

·       A comment was made about how trees were going to be protected

·       Clarification was sought that EV chargers would be installed at all properties and all spaces not just garages.

·       Questions were asked if solar panels would be installed on properties, and what were the road materials made out of and questions about run off and drainage. 

·       A question was asked how many dwellings were disabled friendly as in widened doorway as there were no bungalows. Where was the site going to have meeting point or fete, and that there was no place together or village hall.

·       Comments made about the low number of affordable housings which should be 30% not 10%.

·       Comments were made that they were happy with streetlights and planning officers had worked hard on this application.

 

The case officer, Kirsten Williams commented that the layout of the site was very strong. The Tree officer reviewed the development and identified smaller species to use across the site and there was a condition that if any trees died, they had to be replaced and would be the responsibility of whoever owned the land.  Solar panels would be installed on dwellings. All homes needed to be accessible as per building regulations and there was no specific regulation for homes to be fully adaptable. All doors must be a minimum and specific dimension for accessibility. The scheme had been reviewed by the highways department. The parking provision was generous in the Courtyard, and most people would walk and cycle rather than drive. The Safety of water features, designed to appropriate standard and levels, both positioned natural surveillance over them. The developer was not required to achieve biodiversity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.

105.

Urgent items

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

 

The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

 

106.

Exempt Business

There are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.

Minutes:

There was no exempt business.

 

Decision Sheet pdf icon PDF 89 KB