Category: Planning Committee

Wirral’s Labour and Lib Dem councillors vote against Conservative motion that recommended restricting future development on Council owned land in the greenbelt

Wirral’s Labour and Lib Dem councillors vote against Conservative motion that recommended restricting future development on Council owned land in the greenbelt

Wirral’s Labour and Lib Dem councillors vote against Conservative motion that recommended restricting future development on Council owned land in the greenbelt

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Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 5th July 2017 starting at agenda item (Notice of Motion – Green Belt) 1:18

Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5th July 2017 Left Colin Hughes solicitor Right Cllr Paul Stuart Chair
Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5th July 2017 Left Colin Hughes solicitor Right Cllr Paul Stuart Chair

ED: Edited to add quote from Wirral Society at end. 8.7.17 16:58

Yesterday evening, Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed Cllr Chris Blakeley’s motion about Wirral Council owned land in the greenbelt.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee is made up of 9 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Lib Dem councillor. However 1 Labour councillor couldn’t make it which meant on the evening in question there were 8 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Lib Dem councillor.

Cllr Chris Blakeley wanted an “unconditional guarantee” that it wouldn’t be “developed under any circumstances”.

The Labour councillors disagreed with Cllr Chris Blakeley and Cllr Foulkes gave the example of Arrowe Park Hospital as a development that Cllr Foulkes approved of that was on Council-owned land in the greenbelt. The Conservative councillors agreed with Cllr Chris Blakeley.

However when it came to the vote, the Labour councillors (plus a Lib Dem councillor) voted down Cllr Chris Blakeley’s notice of motion, replacing it instead with a Labour proposed notice of motion.

The text of the replacement motion proposed by the Labour Chair Cllr Paul Stuart was as follows:

“We note the notice of motion.

The Council recognises the value of the greenbelt, which should only be developed in special circumstances.

We await the Emerging Core Strategy: Local Plan and the consultation around this with specific reference to the national guidelines.”

 

The Labour notice of motion was agreed by a 9 (for): 5 (against) vote. This recommendation has to be agreed by a future meeting of all Wirral Council’s councillors before it becomes policy.

The Wirral Society “applauds the commitment by Wirral Councillors to uphold the integrity of the Wirral Green Belt and especially of land within its ownership.

As the legislation makes provision for exceptions to be made for development in the Green Belt under Very Special Circumstances, we accept that it would be difficult to for the Council to say it would never allow any development on its Green Belt land. However, the Society was disappointed that the Motion passed made no mention of the need to pursue a policy of giving priority in all cases to developing ‘Brown-Field’ (ie previously developed) land as a priority.”

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What were the 4 extra proposed planning conditions about trees on the controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application?

What were the 4 extra proposed planning conditions about trees on the controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application?

What were the 4 extra proposed planning conditions about trees on the controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application?

photo 15 Land off Saughall Massie Road Saughall Massie 13th December 2016 SAVE OUR GREEN BELT SAY NO TO THE FIRE STATION banner
Land off Saughall Massie Road, Saughall Massie 13th December 2016 SAVE OUR GREEN BELT SAY NO TO THE FIRE STATION banner

Ed – 4.7.17 to clarify time of site visit

In an update to 13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306) I thought it would be a good idea to report on an aspect of this planning application that has so far been unreported.

After the agenda for the Planning Committee was published, an extra petition (in support) of the planning application for a fire station in Saughall Massie has been received by Wirral Council of 27 signatures.

There are also four extra conditions proposed (numbers 18-21) if the planning application is approved that relate to trees. These tie in to an EIR request I made to Wirral Council for the response from Wirral Council’s Trees section in reference to being consulted on the planning application.

I include scans of the late list for the last Planning Committee meeting that also includes extra information on APP/17/00126 (which was refused) and APP/17/00401 (which was approved).

Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 1 of 3
Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 1 of 3
Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 2 of 3
Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 2 of 3
Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 3 of 3
Planning Committee late list Wirral Council 22nd June 2017 Page 3 of 3

Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agreed at its meeting on the 22nd June 2017 to visit the site on the 18th July 2017. The Planning Committee will leave Wallasey Town Hall at 10.00 am and the site visit is expected to start on site approximately around 10.15 am (or possibly a bit later depending on traffic). The planning application is expected to be decided at a public meeting of the Planning Committee starting at 6.00 pm on the 20th July 2017 in the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.

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13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306)

13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306)

13 councillors on Wirral Council’s Planning Committee agree to site visit over controversial Saughall Massie fire station planning application (APP/17/00306)

                                                 

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Wirral Council’s Planning Committee 22nd June 2017 (the site visits item starts at 2:38)

Cllr David Elderton (right) proposing a site visit for-planning application APP/17/00306 at Wirral Council's Planning Committee meeting on the 22nd June 2017
Cllr David Elderton (right) proposing a site visit for-planning application APP/17/00306 at Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meeting on the 22nd June 2017

ED – updated 26.6.17 to include time of site visit

Prior to Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meeting starting yesterday evening, the sprung floor bounced as over a hundred people came through the doors into the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall.

Most were there to see what would happen to planning application
APP/17/00306 (which was an amended planning application following the refusal of application APP/16/00985). Application APP/17/00306 was a revised planning application for a new fire station in Saughall Massie on greenbelt land owned by Wirral Council.

Those present patiently sat through the Chair’s regular speech about procedure, followed by approval of the minutes of the last Planning Committee meeting and a request for any declarations of interest to be made.

Finally, nearly three minutes into the meeting came the moment many were waiting for.

Councillor David Elderton (Conservative spokesperson) pictured above requested that the Planning Committee agree a site visit for planning application APP/17/00306 before a decision was made on it.

He explained that the layout and size had changed since the previous application.

The Planning Committee agreed for a site visit to be held on the 18th July 2017 starting at some point after 10.15 am (the minibus is scheduled to leave Wallasey Town Hall at around 10.00 am).

So what is a site visit?

It’s an opportunity for the Planning Committee to visit the site and see for themselves the site that the planning application is about.

Below is what happened at the site visit for the previous planning application (that was refused) that is related to this one held on the same site on the 13th December 2016.

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Planning Committee (Wirral Council) Site Visit (APP/16/00985).

A time of day for the site visit has not yet been finalised now been given as 10.30 am, but Wirral Council will request that the applicant Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service “peg out” the proposed outline of the building and site.

The planning application is then expected to be determined at a Planning Committee meeting scheduled to start at 6.00 pm on the 20th July 2017 in the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.

Related to this matter, ward councillor Councillor Blakeley has also proposed a notice of motion on the green belt that will be discussed at the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on the 5th July 2017 in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED starting at 6.00 pm. His notice of motion calls upon Wirral Council to “confirm its unconditional guarantee to protect Wirral’s green belt and further resolves that it will not release or allow Council owned green belt land to be developed under any circumstances.”

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Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

Will Wirral Council receive £300,000 windfall for greenbelt Saughall Massie Fire Station site if planning application APP/17/00306 is approved?

                                            

Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station
Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service) (left) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie in 2015 to discuss proposals for a new fire station

In a 20 page planning report on a revised planning application for a fire station in Saughall Massie, councillors on the Planning Committee have been recommended to approve the application.

The report fails to mention that Wirral Council owns the land, and following a First-tier Tribunal case between myself and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, it was revealed that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority had set aside £300,000* to pay Wirral Council for the land as part of the project. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority also predict they will receive £200,000* from the sale of West Kirby Fire Station and £350,000* from the sale of Upton Fire Station.

*estimates of sale prices for Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and the land at Saughall Massie owned by Wirral Council were made by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority based on prices in October 2014 (Upton Fire Station and West Kirby Fire Station), see Appendix H to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/101/14) and January 2015 (Upton Fire Station, West Kirby Fire Station and land at Saughall Massie, see Appendix F to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority report CFO/003/15).

A previous application for a fire station was refused by Wirral Council’s Planning Committee on a 7:6 vote last year. An appeal of this planning application refusal to the Planning Inspectorate was considered but abandoned.

Wirral Council’s Planning Committee meets next week on Thursday 22nd June 2017, starting at 6.00 pm to consider the revised planning application in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe. It is expected that a site visit will be requested at this meeting which if agreed will delay a final decision on the planning application to a later meeting of the Planning Committee (expected to be on the 20th July 2017).

As the planning report states, the petition of objection to the planning application has grown to 4,034 signatures and there have been 324 objections to the new application at the time the report was written.

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Are you interested in 385 pages about the Saughall Massie Fire Station project?

Are you interested in 385 pages about the Saughall Massie Fire Station project?

Are you interested in 385 pages about the Saughall Massie Fire Station project?

                                                   

This continues from an earlier blog post which contains the first 44 pages of the bundle for case EA/2016/0054.

Below are pages 45 to 429 of the bundle for the hearing last year.

Since that time, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services’ planning application has been refused by Wirral Council and a revised planning application submitted earlier this year has yet to be determined.

Photos on the valuation reports written by Hardie Brack have been removed and so has the First-tier Tribunal crest on First-tier Tribunal orders.

There are some typographical errors in the pages below.

Documents originally in colour have been converted to black and white for the bundle.

The current planning application (APP/17/00306) can be read on Wirral Council’s website.

Despite this matter being ended by consent order in September 2016, eight months later there are sub judice matters involving costs.

I therefore will not be commenting on those matters until they are resolved.

The revised planning application is expected to be on the agenda of Wirral Council’s Planning Committee for a public meeting on the 22nd June 2017 and if the Planning Committee decides on a site visit it will be finally determined at its public meeting scheduled for the 20th July 2017.


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