Falklands : Planning and Building Committee (04/12/08)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 07.12.2008 (Article Archived on 21.12.2008)
Graham France tells us what happened at this important committee meeting.
PLANNING & BUILDING COMMITTEE
HELD 4th DECEMBER 2008
(By Graham France)
December planning and building update
Chaired by Councillor John Birmingham, this was, again, a relatively short meeting lasting no more than 40 minutes with just seven applications seeking detailed planning permission.
These were presented to members of the committee by Environmental Planning Officer Antony Payne, whose recommendations to grant conditional planning permission to each were accepted, and the following were approved: a porch on her dwelling at 5 Murray Heights for Ellen Davis; double garage to be erected at 3 Beaver Road for David Ford; an extension to her house at 6B Ross Road West for Shona Strange; dwelling at Mullet Creek Farm (East Falkland) for Martyn and Andrea Barlow; house at 2 Narrows View for Michael McRae (Jnr) which followed earlier outline consent; the change of use from a private dwelling to tourist accommodation for Ben Berntsen at Elephant Beach Farm on East Falkland; and an extension to his garage at 34 Eliza Crescent for Gordon Peck.
During discussions on these, one member raised the issue of lack of clarity on the plans in proposals to erect an extension when the new work was not distinguished from the existing structure by suitable colouring. The committee agreed that such a lack could and did in fact lead to an element of confusion for lay members and urged that future proposals did include colouring of new work.
In contrast to the limited number of applications for planning permission, there were no less than twenty-five submissions seeking building permits and Building Adviser Nick Stephens duly reported his findings on each. He had been able to issue four such permits, one proposal was “exempt”, two were awaiting his plan check and the rest, bar one, he awaited information from the applicant or their agent. That sole application he reported upon following a site visit to Carcass Island and was for a utility building for Rob McGill. In accordance with the requirements of the Building Regulations for proposals such as this on “distant sites” he asked that his written report be accepted and approval be given, and this the committee were pleased to agree to.
Antony Payne then updated members on two outstanding planning appeals, one of which (an outline application for two houses at Mink Park on Moody Brook Road which was refused by the committee last June) had been decided at a recent meeting of Executive Council (ExCo) where the decision was to reject the appeal. The other appeal was in respect of the committee’s decision last October to refuse outline planning permission for twelve houses at the Moody Brook Homestead, and here he was preparing the draft statement which would be presented to the next meeting of the committee for approval before it was forwarded to ExCo.
Nextly, members were advised that Les Harris is due to complete his three-year period on the committee next February and that there would be an advertisement appearing in early January inviting applications for the lay-member position.
The open part of the meeting concluded with provisional agreement that the next would be held on Thursday 8th January 2009 in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat, commencing at 8.30am.
Graham France 4th December 2008
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