Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for non-attendance.

An apology for non attendance was receive from Councillor Scard

All Members are required to disclose at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter, any disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest in any item(s) being considered at this meeting.

There were no Member’s declaration’s of interest.

The Democratic Services Officer left the room for item number 4.

To sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 24 July 2024.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Regulatory Board  held on 24 July 2024 be signed as a true and correct record.

·         (NOTE: The Board is required to receive a deputation(s) on a matter which is before the meeting of the Board provided that notice of the intended deputation and its object shall have been received by the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on 2 September 2024.  The total time for deputations in favour and against a proposal shall not exceed 10 minutes).

Deputations were received on item 24/00142/TPO

(NOTE: The Board is required to allow a total of 15 minutes for questions from Members of the public on matters within the terms of reference of the Board provided that notice of such Question(s) shall have been submitted to the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on 2 September 2024).

There were none

To consider the reports of the Development Manager.

Consideration was given to the report of the Development Manager.

23/00446/FULL - INSTALLATION OF EXTERNAL HEAT EXCHANGE UNIT WITHIN FRONT COURTYARD (RETROSPECTIVE)

143 Queens Road  Gosport  Hampshire  PO12 1LG   

A Member advised that the application had taken considerable time to discuss and be determined and that they felt there had been barriers from both sides to this being resolved sooner.

The applicant had advised that they had not realised they would be able to speak and that could not arrange work cover to come along. They had advised the Member that they saw no positivity within the report of the Planning Officer and that it was excessively negative.

The refusal of the application could lead to the closure of the pub as there would be costs to amend the cooling unit and concern was expressed that Gosport Borough Council would be blamed for this.

A Member advised that they felt that if there was a significant issue with the unit more than one person would have complained about it. The applicant was concerned about having to rectify unit that it would be too expensive for them to do so.

Members sought clarification as to what would happen if the application was refused, the Board was advised that planning enforcement action would need to be considered. The Board was advised that Environmental Health action had not been undertaken until now as it was being dealt with as a planning matter. It was also advised that there had had been no subsequent complaints but it was felt that this was because the complainant believed the matter to be under investigation.

Some Members of the Board felt that the applicant should give further consideration to adaptations to the existing units exploring sound muffling

The Board was advised that in the event of the application being refused, the applicant could, if they wish appeal the decision for consideration by the Planning Inspector. If the Planning Inspectorate agreed with the officers then time would be given to make amendments to the unit and mitigation options would be discussed.

Members felt that mitigation measures would be simple to undertake and that doing them should not cause the pub to cease trading, and that the pub should make an adequate effort to make amends and should have been more proactive. Members were particularly disappointed that the application had been withdrawn from a previous Board meeting to allow the applicant additional time to make amendments.

Members felt the issues with the unit were not subjective, but that they were clear as they were based on noise level numbers and that the unit needed planning permission. Had the unit been acceptable in planning terms and the noise disturbance been reported, Environmental Health would have investigated the complaint, discussed with the applicant and potentially enforcement action would be taken.

Members questioned whether the unit could be covered with plants or trellis to reduce the impact of the noise. The noise would not impact residents on the other side of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

There were none.