Planning and Building Committee Report

REPORT OF THE PLANNING & BUILDING COMMITTEE

HELD 5^th JUNE 2003

(By Graham France)

This month’s meeting was held as usual in the Liberation Room and was chaired by the Hon Richard Cockwell who was accompanied by the Hon Norma Edwards, Brian Summers and Les Harris.  Attending for his first meeting was Mike McLeod who replaced Jim Moffatt – a replacement for Rikki Evans has yet to be appointed.  The writer was one of five members of the public attending to listen to the “open” part of the proceedings which lasted just over one hour and forty minutes.

Following the usual preliminaries, members began the review of seventeen applications for planning permission, noting that no less than ten of these had been the subject of applications for a building permit which the Building Adviser, Jim Robison, had already approved under the new “fast track” procedure.

There was only one application for the renewal of temporary planning permission: this was submitted by Mr and Mrs Ron Rozee for the excavation of calcified seaweed at Pond Valley on Spring Point Farm, West Falkland, for it to be used as an agricultural liming agent, and the Committee agreed to renew the consent for a further three years.

The first of the new proposals to be considered was an outline application for the erection of a double-storey extension to the Royal Falkland Islands Police Headquarters on Ross Road. This had attracted two letters of objection: from the Historic Buildings Committee (Miss Jane Cameron attended on their behalf to address this Committee as it is a listed building) and from the Christ Church Cathedral Council.  Members took note of an article which had appeared in the Penguin News during a visit in March 2001 of master craftsman Roger Capps in which he singled out the police station and its importance to Stanley.  “There are no Taj Mahals here but the police station and the unit in which it exists are equally important because it represents something that doesn’t exist anywhere else”, he commented. 

Members were in agreement that the proposal was inappropriate and asked that it be redesigned and set back to the main building line, also be kept to a single-storey if possible with perhaps a basement included.  It was therefore resolved to defer the application and, after learning that it had not been through that procedure, members asked that it be first considered by the Police Committee then brought back here.

The following applications were then reviewed and all were conditionally approved: the re-siting of a C&R unit to the Dolphin’s Guest House on John Street for use as a film-processing laboratory by Mr Norman Besley-Clark;  erection of a garage at 14A Drury Street for Mr T McCallum; extension of the roof, repositioning and replacement of windows and re-cladding of the entire dwelling at 14 Davis Street by Mr M Lee; the siting of a container for storage for Falkland Islands Tours and Travel at their depot on Lookout Industrial Estate; a garage to be erected at 3 Biggs Road for Mr and Mrs Keith Padgett; the replacement of his existing garage with a larger structure at 17 Jeremy Moore Avenue for Mr T J (Nobby) Clarke (this was granted provided there were no objections from the neighbour to the overhanging gutter); a garden shed at 3 Davis Street West for Mrs J Nutter (this was applied for as there is an Article 6 Direction on this property which has the effect of requiring applications for all building works of this nature which would usually be deemed “permitted development”); a dwelling to be erected at 5 Gleadell Close for Mr Jay Moffatt; the erection of a new garage and enlargement of the off-street parking area at his house on 53 Davis Street for Mr Lewis Clifton;  siting of a mobile home as accommodation for a family member at 21 Eliza Crescent for Mr D Goodwin; a dwelling to be erected at 7 Gleadell Close for Mr and Mrs Larry Joshua; and, lastly, alterations to the roof of his house at 6 Dairy Paddock Road for Mr Paul Stevens.

Although there were concerns over whether planning permission had been needed in respect of recent and on-going building works to form a bed-sit at the rear of the dwelling at 4B Ross Road West, Ms Julie Clarke’s application for the installation of an overhead telephone cable was approved.  It was decided that planning permission was necessary for this new building which has been erected to replace the existing building. Also deferred was an application by Government for permission in principle to erect a dwelling on land to the south of the house at 94 Davis Street.  This was decided to allow agreement to be reached on the form of access to be retained through this land to service the existing dwelling.

A proposal submitted by Mrs Janet Jaffray to site a Portakabin for use as living accommodation by a family member at 3 Fitzroy Road East was delegated to the Environmental Planning Officer, but subject to agreement being reached on a change in siting so as to be less obtrusive on the street scene.

Following consideration of four applications for grants for off-street parking schemes, of which three received outright approval with the fourth to be referred first to Stanley Lands Committee, members were invited to review the draft paper on the Falkland Islands Development Plan prepared by the Environmental Planning Officer, Antony Lancaster, for submission to Executive Council.  It was explained that the paper included and reflected comments made in the consultation process and that, if approved, future planning decisions would be based upon it.  The Committee said they were very pleased to support the document and offered their congratulations to Mr Lancaster.

The next item concerned the siting of an equipment cabin which Mr Mario Zuvic-Bulic wishes to site temporarily on his land off Dairy Paddock Road.  An application for permanent accommodation is to be submitted formally but he wished members to be aware now of his reasons, which were in connection with upgrading the equipment on the site.  Members duly noted his wishes.

Lastly, the Committee were asked to note correspondence in connection with a proposed review of the Building Regulations and the effect of controls on external cladding of buildings.  There was support for the proposed relaxation procedure and it was agreed that once this was in place there might be further thought on how this should be implemented.  The opportunity was taken during the discussion for the Building Adviser to state he was not preventing the Charity Shop on Fitzroy Road from opening, following the works of extending the building which were recently completed.

The meeting closed its “open” session at about 10.40am and the next meeting of this Committee is scheduled for the 3^rd July, commencing at 9am in the usual venue.