Council and councillors

To receive any apologies from Members.

Apologies were received from Councilllor Woodley. Councillor MacCartney would be leaving the meeting for the second planning application on the agenda as it was her application.

Thanks were expressed to Stephen Turnball, the Planning and Highways Lawyer. This would be his last meeting of the Planning and Licensing Committee as was shortly retiring.  

To confirm the minutes of the Planning and Licensing Committees held on 9^th February and the special meeting held on 2^nd March 2021.

The minutes of the Planning and Licensing Committee which took place on 9^th February 2021 were confirmed. The minutes of the meeting that took place on 2 March 2021 would be confirmed at the next meeting of the Committee.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Cllr MacCartney disclosed a pecuniary interest in application 2, 2021/0033/FUL, as she was the applicant. She would withdraw from the application whilst it was considered and would not be partaking in the debate or vote. Councillor A Brown also declared a pecuniary interest in this application as he was a client of this business and would not take part in the application.

All Councillors declared a non-pecuniary interest in the first application on the agenda 2020/1459/RG3. This was because it was a council application but all had come with an open mind and would consider the report and the presentation in coming to a decision.

Councillor Baines made a further non-pecuniary interest in the first application as he was the Council’s Heritage Champion and was President of the Records and Local History Society. He had also been involved in a similar application several years previous. Similarly, Councillor Oxley also declared a non-pecuniary interest as he was a member of the Fairtrade Forum which used the Castle.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions from members of the

Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 93.

Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

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Requests to speak on planning applications will also be subject to the RCC Public Speaking Rules.

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The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes.

There were no questions, deputations or petitions raised for the items on the agenda.

To receive Report No. 18/2021 from the Strategic Director for Places.

1)             2020/1459/RG3 - Oakham Castle, Castle Lane, Oakham Regulation 3 application for change of use of the Court number 1 room, kitchen (total 55 square meters) and courtyard outdoors pace (40 square meters) at Oakham Castle for a cafe.

The Planning Officer for this application, Andrew Waskett-Burt, addressed the Committee and gave an executive summary of the application, recommending approval.

During debate a majority of the Committee agreed that it was a good extension and noted that Licensing would deal with rules and conditions around the Café. It was proposed that there should be a condition in relation to the change of use to ensure the change of use was properly assessed.

The supplementary report provided an update since the agenda had been published. There had been one further comment received, neither for or against the application, from a local resident. Officers responded to this. Further to the main report, final opening hours had been set out by the applicant which were

· 09:00 - 16:30 Tuesdays - Saturdays

· Summer holidays between 26th July and 1st September - 09:00 – 17:30 Tuesday – Sunday

The officers considered these reasonable as the location was adjacent to the town centre.

There were two amendments to conditions in view of the above and comments received which were considered by the Committee and noted below:

 3. This permission shall expire eighteen months after the change of use has been implemented, at which date the use shall cease and the area revert back to its original use. REASON: To enable a review of the impact of the change of use upon the educational offer of the castle to be undertaken and properly assessed.

5. The café use shall not take place other than between the hours of:

· 09:00 - 16:30 Tuesdays - Saturdays

· Summer holidays between 26th July and 1st September 2021 - 09:00 – 17:30 Tuesday – Sunday REASON: In the interests of surrounding amenity.

Accordingly, the Committee moved to the officers recommendations for approval of application 2020/1459/RG3 subject to the amended conditions noted above. Councillor MacCartney proposed and Councillor Harvey seconded and a recorded vote was taken as follows:

The recommendation with a vote of 9 in favour and 1 against was, therefore, carried with the additional condition as noted.

(Note: Councillor MacCartney and Coouncillor A Brown left the meeting for the consideration of this next item at 7.49p).

2)             2021/0033/FUL Abigail MacCartney - Workshop off America Lodge Lane, Brooke Change of use of an agricultural building to B1 use.

Nick Hodgett, Principal Planning Officer for the Council, addressed the Committee and gave an executive summary of the application, recommending approval.

The Committee considered the application and agreed that it was a good company that provided a valuable service and the application should be approved.

Accordingly, the Committee moved to the officers recommendations for approval of application 2021/0033/FUL Councillor Baines  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive Report No. 19/2021 from the Strategic Director for Places.

The Committee was presented with the appeals report which provided Councillors with information on the appeals received since the last meeting and summarised the decisions made.

It was noted that there had been two appeals allowed (one of which being  spilt decision in relation to 2020/0377/LBA - 3 New Row, Mill Street, Ryhall, Rutland PE9 4HG (Erection of single storey front porch and conversion of existing attic/loft space for habitable use, including insertion of 2 no. rooflights. The single storey porch had been dismissed and the conversion of attic loft space allowed. There had been one fully dismissed appeal for 2020/0835/RES Innisfree, 4 Stamford Road, Essendine, Rutland, PE9 4LQ.

The Committee thanked officers for the report which was noted.