Dozen homes at old stable barns

Hurley: Councillors defy officers to back development

Councillors voted against officer recommendations and gave their backing to an application for 12 new homes at a farm in Hurley.

Proposals by Culden Faw Ltd look to convert the stable barns at Culham Farms in Black Boy Lane into seven new homes and demolish the remaining buildings at the site to create five detached homes.

Plans also include landscaping and new vehicle access at the site.

The application was recommended for refusal by officers, with concerns raised over the spread of development, the height being ‘much greater’ than the existing development and visually impacting upon the greenbelt, the location not being ‘sustainable’ and concerns over open space provisions.

Prior to the discussion between members at the meeting on Wednesday, November 16, both the applicant’s agent and council leader and ward councillor Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con, Hurley and Walthams) provided their reasons for why members should approve

the application.

Cllr Johnson said: “In my view the application before you represents the best practical use for this site and would result in a development which is not only broadly in keeping with the surrounding area but offers a significant visual improvement over what currently exists.”

He added: “Whilst it is clearly located within the countryside it is effectively classified as brownfield by virtue of its previously developed status and there is very little prospect of it returning back into active use for commercial purposes.”

During the meeting some members raised concerns over the application, with Cllr Geoff Hill (tBFl, Oldfield) stating that while ‘there has to be another use for this land’, the proposed homes were ‘too tall’, and the scheme is a ‘little over ambitious in terms of height and does represent unnecessary harm on the greenbelt’.

Cllr John Baldwin (Lib Dem, Belmont), said: “[There] has to be a future for this land. We can’t just pretend that there’s going to be some return to some bucolic idyll and its former use will somehow emerge again.

“The owners of rural land should be allowed within limits, the ability to develop their asset the same as would be the owners of urban land.”

He added: “It has to have a use, and this appears to be a use that has broad local support and I worry that if this committee stands in the way of that sentiment then its not really doing its job properly.”

Committee chair Cllr Maureen Hunt (Con, Hurley and Walthams), said she thought it was a ‘very good scheme’. She put forward a motion to delegate the head of planning to grant planning permission subject to conditions and legal agreement to address a number of relevant objections and this was seconded by Cllr Baldwin.

This motion passed with five members voting for and four voting against.