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SH20
FOR
DEVELOPMENT CONTROL SOUTH SUB-COMMITTEE
LATE
ITEM FOR THE AGENDA
WD/03/2776/F
HEATHFIELD/WALDRON
(East) 28th
November 2003
(559464 119589)
Full
application for:-
REVISIONS
TO GRANARY CONSENTED UNDER PLANNING PERMISSION
WD/01/2124/F
GRANTED ON 25TH JULY 2002 FOR THE ERECTION OF SOUNDPROOFED
GRANARY BUILDING TO USE FOR RURAL CONFERENCES AND
20 WEDDING CEREMONIES AND RECEPTIONS PER YEAR.
at TWISSELLS MILL,
NETTLESWORTH LANE, OLD HEATHFIELD.
RECOMMENDATION
That
full planning permission BE REFUSED on the following
grounds:-
1.
The proposed development by virtue of of its increased
scale, bulk and massing, would be out of character
in this sensitive countryside setting within the High
Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, thereby
contrary to the long-
established
countryside restraint policies embodied within PPG Note
No 7, entitled ''The Countryside - Environmental Quality
and Economic and Social Development, Policies S1, S7 and
S10 of the East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Structure
Plan 1991-2011 and Policies GD2 and EN6 of the Wealden
Local Plan.
KEY
ISSUES
Principle
of development and Local Plan policies.
Visual
impact in AONB.
Location,
siting and design.
Incremental
growth in scale of development.
Progress
on implementation of approved development and in
particular, the
rebuilding
of the Mill.
HISTORY
WD/91/0627/O
(Outline) Rebuild Twissells Mill,
new car park and relocate access. Conditional
permission granted 8 August 1995 following
completion of a Section 106 Agreement seeking to
control retail sale and display of goods, sale of snacks
and refreshments in the team room to paying visitors (no
cooked meals). Mill
building to be used solely
as
a water-powered woollen mill
with ancillary Team Room and Display/Sales area, etc..
WD/98/1335/RM
(Reserved Matters) Rebuild Twissells
Mill. New
access road and car park. Approved 21 September 1998.
The access road and car park have been constructed hence
the outline permission is still
extant.
SH21
- WD/01/2124/F
(Full)
Reconstruction of Mill
building to incorporate tea room,
luncheon hall and heritage shop and exhibition area
together with ancillary facilities; erection of
sound-proofed granary building to use for rural
conferences and 20 wedding ceremonies and receptions per
year and non-permanent attached marquee. Conditional
permission granted 25 July 2002.
DCS
MEMBERS’ SITE VISIT
An
all-Member Sub-committee site visit took place on
Tuesday, 1 stJune
2004, following the Sub-committee’s resolution
for deferral at the last meeting held on 27
th
May (SH1 – 5
refers). The site visit was attended by Councillors R.
Martin, B.F.Brown, J.Dunk, Mrs.Steadman and P.Holbrook,
as well as Parish Councillor Newman, the representative
of the Heathfield & Waldron Parish Council. The
applicant was also in attendance and accompanied
Members from the car park to the site of the proposed
‘granary’ building.
Members
attention was drawn to the nature and extent of
construction and clearance work
that had taken place for the lake and the retaining dam
and overflow channels. Visiting
Members were also able to see the proposed site and
appreciate the drop in
levels
between the top of the dam and the ground level of the
proposed building and the proposed
gallery at first floor, which would be accessed
internally by a new staircase, and
also externally through a pair of wooden doors at the
same level as the top of the dam,
across which traverses a public footpath. The extent of
the smaller ‘granary’ building
and its attached marquee already granted planning
permission was pointed out to
Members, and the increased length (by 6 metres) of the
current proposal, which takes
the place of the approved marquee, was clarified.
Although indicated on the elevational
drawings, it was noted that this current application
does not specifically include
an attached marquee in the revised position shown.
The
applicant’s reasons for the larger ‘granary’
building, to incorporate separate toilets and
a small kitchen facility at ground floor level and a
small balcony area at first floor was
explained. Members also noted that there was no apparent
building work going on at
the time, in respect of either the approved rebuilding
of the Mill
(originally granted
permission
in August 1995) or the smaller ‘granary’ building
(granted permission in July 2002),
though the applicant advised Visiting Members that he
hoped that both the current
proposal and the new Mill
building would be completed next year.
At
the conclusion of the site visit, Members were invited
to attend a short video
presentation
by the applicant inside his new timber dwelling on site,
which he claims is ‘permitted
development’ (a matter disputed by the Head of
Development & Building Control
at the time), which showed the increased amount of water
flowing over the dam and
the ‘washed away’ damage done to the track at the
western side by the amount and speed
of overflowing water at the time of the Sussex floods in
January 2002. It was pointed
out by the applicant that he had now rectified a
potential for further damage by constructing
a new concrete base for this track which still exists on
site.
CONSULTATIONS
Heathfield/Waldron
Parish Council: “My Council supports this
application.”
Environment
Agency:
No
objection in principle.
SH22
- WD/01/2124/F
County
Highway Authority:
Does
not wish to restrict grant of consent.
Head
of Pollution Control:
Expresses
concerns regarding potential noise
pollution,
seeking controls requiring sound-proofing and closure of
doors. Local
Residents:
No
comments received.
MAIN
POLICY ISSUES
Policies
S1, S4, S7, S10, TR1, TR3, EN1, EN2, EN3, LT1 and LT2 of
the East Sussex
and
Brighton & Hove Structure Plan 1991-2011. Policies
EN1, EN6, EN12, EN13, TM1 and TR3 of the Wealden Local
Plan.
COMMENTARY
Members
will recall previous consideration of this site, lying
within a relatively isolated countryside
location within the High Weald AONB, south of Heathfield
Park, where it occupies
approximately 3.6ha of open paddock interspersed with
heavily wooded copse.
Lying to the south-west of the lane leading from Old
Heathfield to Vines Cross, the
site was formerly occupied by Twissells
Mill until
1930 when it was destroyed by fire. The
various permissions granted (in 1995, 1998 and 2002)
envisaged reconstruction of the
Mill building to
incorporate a tea room, toilets and various structures
associated with tourism,
rural conference and wedding ceremony activities.
Included in the most recent
permission
(July 2002) is a small sound-proofed granary building
with a non-permanent attached
marquee. The building is proposed to be set in the dam
bank, 9.8m wide x 9.1m
long, rising to a ridge height of 9m above a pitched
roof, but incorporating a single-storey.
The
increase in the length of the detached ‘granary’
building by 6 metres as now proposed
would be on the site of the attached Marquee attached to
the southern elevation
of the smaller ‘granary’ building, thus extending
the development further south of
the dam. However, unlike the previous application
(WD/01/2124/F) the proposed
temporary
Marquee in its revised position does not form part of
the current application. Further
to the various permissions, some limited works have been
carried out at the site,
with a revised access formed and small car park created
alongside the lake. The applicant’s
‘gypsy’ caravan has been relocated in the upper car
park overlooking the lake,
although the only structure that has actually been
formed at the site is a very substantial
single storey timber “bungalow” adjacent to the lake
at a lower level which, the
applicants claim, is temporary and does not require
planning permission. This structure,
which is currently occupied by the applicant, has not
been accepted by the Council
as exempt from the need for planning permission, (such
exemption only being granted
for caravans for occupation by a worker employed in
carrying out the development).
No
work has been carried out on site in respect of either
the rebuilding of the Mill
building
of construction of the granary building, both of which
have the benefit of extant planning
permissions. In the interim, the current application for
a larger granary building in
the same position has now been submitted, the
justification for which is appended. It
SH23
- WD/01/2124/F
essentially
involves a substantial expansion of scale of the
“granary” building with a proposed length of 15
metres (an increase of 6 metres). It incorporates a
balcony
mezzanine element, internal male and female WCs and a
small kitchen facility. This is now a more substantial
development, considered to be of excessive size and out
of keeping in this isolated rural countryside location
and out of scale with the original
“granary” concept, which was to be a simple small
structure. This larger building would be visible to
users of the adjacent Public Footpath which traverses
the applicant’s land and runs along the top of the
dam.
Overall,
the proposed increase in size and scale of this building
is considered to be an unjustified and unacceptable
intensification, not least in view of the absence of any
progress on the rebuilding of the Mill
which was first approved at this site in August 1995. In
this context, Members will recall concerns expressed
regarding the overall development in officer’s
reports. The recommendation of refusal is therefore
appropriately framed.
Officer
Contact Point: Any enquiries on this report to Patrick
Coffey, Team Leader
(South)
– Tel: 01892 602476.
Ward Member: Cllr J Dunk
http://www.wealden.gov.uk/planning/DCS-Hlate-240604.PDF.
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