Council decisions

This report requests approval for an extension to the existing Postal contract for a year to provide business continuity while a re-tender process gets underway.

The Planning Officer presented the application.

The Chairman announced that he had called in the application for the reasons outlined in the report which were that there are marginal planning issues to take into account regarding the acceptability of this development.

An objector made an oral representation in relation to the application.  The applicant made an oral representation in relation to the application.

During discussion of the item, the Planning Officers raised the point that Members needed to be aware that going against the officer’s recommendation to refuse could compromise future decisions and lead to cost implications.

Following discussion of the item the Committee moved to vote on the officer’s recommendations to refuse the application.  Votes were recorded as follows:

The motion to refuse the application was therefore lost.

Councillor Richman proposed to approve the application against officer’s recommendations, which was seconded by Councillor Fluss for the following reasons:

Whereas the Committee recognised, that the size of the extension was not consistent with the normal requirements of the guidelines of the SPD, it considered that there were exceptional reasons to allow the application, against the advice of the officers namely:

·       The extension was similar in terms of protrusion to the existing extensions to the neighbouring properties on either side, was visually consistent therewith, and had no negative effect on the amenities of the neighbours

·       The in situ development was not unsympathetic to the existing dwelling house and had no negative impact on the character of the overall property

·       The extension is in the rear and visible only from the back garden and is  not detrimental in any way to the street scene and wider locality under DMO1

·        The Committee voted on the motion to approve the application, for the reasons outlined above.

Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application for the reasons outlined above.

The planning officer presented the application.

Councillor Richman declared that she had called in the application, however the reasons for calling the application to be heard at this committee had now been resolved and objectors were now happy with the proposed plans and were no longer in objection.

The Committee moved to vote on the recommendations in the report which were to approve the application subject to conditions.  Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application subject to conditions.

The Planning Officer presented the application.

A representative for the applicant made an oral representation.

Following discussion of the item the Committee moved to vote on the recommendation in the report which was to approve subject to conditions. Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application subject to conditions as outlined in the report.

The Planning Officer presented the application.

An oral representation was made by an objector in relation to the application.

During discussion of the item the Chairman asked for clarification from planning officers that there was a restriction attached to the use of the roof for anything other than maintenance or repair work.  The Planning Officers confirmed that this was included within condition 4 of the report.

Following discussion of the item the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendation in the report which was to approve the application subject to conditions. Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application subject to conditions as outlined in the report.

The Planning Officer presented the application.

A representative for the applicant made an oral representation.

Following discussion of the item the Committee moved to vote on the recommendation in the report to approve subject to conditions.  Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application subject to conditions as outlined in the report.

The Planning Officer presented the application.

An objector made an oral representation in relation to the application.

Following discussion of the item the Committee moved to vote on the recommendations in the report which was to approve the application subject to conditions.  Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to APPROVE the application subject to conditions as set out in the report.

The planning Officer presented the application

An oral representation was made by an objector to the application.  A oral representation was made by a representative for the applicant.

During the discussion of the item it came to light that one of the neighbours believed that part of the planning application encroached on his land.  Planning officers were not able to confirm whether this was the case or not.

Councillor Simberg proposed that the item be deferred to allow time for the claim of encroachment on the neighbour’s land to be investigated, this was seconded by Councillor Bokaei.

The Committee voted on the motion to defer the item to allow for further investigation of the claims made of encroachment on the neighbour’s land.

The votes were recorded as follows:

RESOLVED that the application be deferred to a future meeting to clarify the plans.

The Planning Officer presented the application

An oral representation was made by an objector to the application.  An oral representation was made by a supporter of the application.  A representative for the applicant made an oral representation.

Following discussion of the item the Chairman moved to vote on the recommendations in the cover report and the addendum which were to approve the application subject to conditions.

The votes were recorded as follows:

The motion to approve the application was therefore lost.

Refusal of the application against officer’s recommendations was proposed by Councillor Simberg and seconded by Councillor Fluss for the following reasons:

-        There was continued intensification of the green belt land without a valid and viable exception of the rules to green belt land exception, which was causes harm to appearance and status.

-        The scientific importance of the use of land as it is now will cause an adverse effect on the land, which will not be able to be recovered in future years.

-        The negative impact the use is having on biodiversity.

-        The negative impact on the amenity of neighbours in the surrounding site.

The Committee moved to vote on the motion to refuse the application for the reasons outlined above.

Votes were recorded as follows:

The Committee therefore RESOLVED to REFUSE the application for the reasons outlined above.

The Chairman of the Committee, Councillor Gordon, welcomed all the attendees to the meeting and explained the procedure for speakers.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 April 2019 be agreed as a correct record.

Authorisation to award framework contract to commence 1 May 2019 for Electoral Print and Postage for London Borough of Barnet and London Borough of Harrow Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers for a period of 3 years plus 1-year extension option.

Sustained lobbying by Barnet Homes’ Housing Options Service to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) resulted in the Ministry agreeing to provide £0.533m to Barnet Homes’ Housing Options Service, to support the following three key areas of homelessness work:

a)            Prioritising prevention activity;

b)            Carrying out homelessness activities in line with the principles of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017; and

c)            Reducing or eliminating the use of emergency B&B, particularly for periods over 6 weeks.

This report sets out how the additional funding can be used to reduce homelessness and seeks to allocate the funding to Barnet Homes for this purpose.