Councillor Nicolson declared  a non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 1 of the agenda – Planning Application – Erection of 603 dwellinghouses with associated access, parking and landscaping at grounds at Dykebar Hospital, Grahamston Road, Paisley PA2 7DE – as he was a non-executive director of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board and left the meeting. 

Under reference to Item 9(a) of the Minute of the meeting of this Policy Board held on 19 January 2021 there was submitted a report by the Head of Economy & Development relative to the above application for planning permission that required to be determined by the Board.  The report asked the Board to complete its consideration of the application  taking into account the Report of Handling and the other documents attached to the report.

The Convener proposed that the application be refused for the following reasons:

The proposed application fails to meet a key principle of Scottish Planning Policy with regard to the ‘Right development in the Right Place’ for the following reasons;

The high level of tree cover being removed to accommodate housing units has an unacceptable impact to the natural environment contrary to Scottish Planning Policy which states “Planning permission should be refused where the nature or scale of proposed development would have an unacceptable impact on the natural environment”;

Scottish Planning policy has a presumption against land raising and implementation of the precautionary principle regarding flooding. The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the proposed land raising would not impact on the potential for increased flooding and natural water tables of the site;

The proposed development creates identifiable issues regarding capacity at a number of local schools within the catchment area. Potentially disadvantageous for pupils and the education system as a whole and no details are provided as to implementation of mitigation measures;

The proposal increases the level of carbon emissions and coupled with the removal of extensive tree cover it will have a net contribution to carbon emissions which have not been fully mitigated by other measures. Contrary to adopted council policy on climate change;

The local road network infrastructure and capacity will be adversely impacted and mitigation measures have not been proposed or demonstrated to minimise this impact; and

It is considered that the density scale and layout of this proposal is not appropriate to the site and its impact on existing environment unacceptable contrary to design principles that that development should fit into existing surrounding environment and not change them adversely; The development does not comply with the local development spatial strategy plan in that it fails to contribute positively to the character and appearance of the place, benefiting the amenity of the surrounding area and protecting and enhancing the natural, built and cultural heritage and its setting.

Councillor McNaughtan proposed that to augment the above reasons, additional reasons be added to those already outlined for the decision, as the development would contribute to congestion and have an adverse impact on air quality in that it would increase car journeys through the centre of Paisley as the proposed housing development and the local high school are at opposite ends of the town, and the development would adversely impact the local road infrastructure by increasing congestion and the road into the estate would be backed up at busy times, as detailed in the Report of Handling, due to the lack of local facilities.  It is desirable that proposals should seek to reduce commuting rather than contribute to congestion.  The Convener accepted the additional reasons.

The Policy Board agreed unanimously that the application be refused for the reasons outlined and that due to the reasons outlined, the proposal in the application did not accord with the Local Development Plan.

DECIDED: That the application be refused for the following reasons:

That the proposed application failed to meet a key principle of Scottish Planning Policy with regard to the ‘Right development in the Right Place’ for the following reasons;

(i) The high level of tree cover being removed to accommodate housing units had an unacceptable impact to the natural environment contrary to Scottish Planning Policy which stated “Planning permission should be refused where the nature or scale of proposed development would have an unacceptable impact on the natural environment”;

(ii) That Scottish Planning policy had a presumption against land raising and implementation of the precautionary principle regarding flooding. The applicant had failed to demonstrate that the proposed land raising would not impact on the potential for increased flooding and natural water tables of the site;

(iii) That the proposed development created identifiable issues regarding capacity at a number of local schools within the catchment area. Potentially disadvantageous for pupils and the education system as a whole and no details were provided as to implementation of mitigation measures;

(iv) That the proposal increased the level of carbon emissions and coupled with the removal of extensive tree cover it would have a net contribution to carbon emissions which had not been fully mitigated by other measures. Contrary to adopted council policy on climate change';

(v) That the local road network infrastructure and capacity would be adversely impacted and mitigation measures had not been proposed or demonstrated to minimise this impact;

(vi) That it was considered that the density scale and layout of this proposal was not appropriate to the site and its impact on existing environment unacceptable contrary to design principles that the development should fit into existing surrounding environment and not change them adversely;

(vii) That the development did not comply with the local development spatial strategy plan in that it failed to contribute positively to the character and appearance of the place, benefiting the amenity of the surrounding area and protecting and enhancing the natural, built and cultural heritage and its setting;

(viii) That the development would contribute to congestion and have an adverse impact on air quality as it would increase car journeys through the centre of Paisley as the proposed housing development and the local high school were at opposite ends of the town; and

(ix) That the development would adversely impact the local road infrastructure by increasing congestion, the road into the estate would be backed up at busy times due to the lack of local facilities and it was desirable that proposals should seek to reduce commuting rather than contribute to congestion.

For the reasons outlined above the proposal in the application did not accord with the Local Development Plan.