Issue - meetings

Recommendation: Conditional approval

Proposal: Full application for the change of use of amenity land to residential with formation of associated hardstanding. (Retrospective)

Applicant: Mr Amin

The Committee received and reviewed a report about this application, set out in agenda pages 217 to 230.

The Committee were advised that there were no updates contained within the supplementary planning agenda.

Tim Marsh, on behalf of the ACER residents’ association, spoke in objection to the application. Tim stated that the land in front of the property had not been adopted by Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) highways, and a resident of 50 years had told him that the strip of land had to be maintained by the owners. Tim added that paragraph 9 of the report stated that a number of properties on the road had paved driveways, however none had covered over their grass verges. Tim stated that should this application be approved, the proposals would risk the potential for the road to never become adopted by WBC and could set a precedent for other properties within the borough. Tim queried whether the installed drainage had been checked to see if it worked, and commented that all other such drains in the area were backed up. Tim stated that policy CP3 mean that development must be without detriment to the adjoining land users and occupiers, and in his opinion this did not apply in this case as the removal of all soft landscaping had changed the visual green landscaped amenity.

Chris Bowring read out a statement on behalf of Mr Amin, applicant, in support of the application. Mr Amin stated that he was not buying the property in front of his home, and he was fully aware that this bit of land was not part of his property. Mr Amin added that the concrete in front of his property was broken, and this was the reason that he had placed new concrete at the front of the property. Mr Amin stated that the concrete had been refurbished due to having a disabled family member, to provide safer access to and from the property. Mr Amin stated that when he had purchased the property approximately five years ago, the area in front of the property was in a very bad condition with many potholes and a public path going through his driveway. Mr Amin, along with his family, had fallen on this surface several times which demonstrated how dangerous the situation was. Mr Amin stated that there were many other properties with tarmac at the front of the property, and he had spent nearly £3,000 on the maintenance of the footpath, despite not owning the land, for the safety of all residents including the disabled family member. Mr Amin added that a drainage system had been installed, and the water now flowed away into the main drainage system. Mr Amin stated that he had paid a professional company to tidy up land which he did not claim to own to make it safer, and had provided the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38