Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 10 August 2011

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 August 2011 be confirmed as a correct record.

Consideration of this item was deferred at the previous meeting held on 10 August 2011.

Report of the Head of Planning Services

Further to Minute No. 4 of the Planning (Urgent Referrals) Committee held on 10 August 2011, the Committee considered the report of the Head of Planning Services recommending that the above Prior Notification Procedure application for the erection of a replacement 15 metre high telecommunications mast and associated ground based equipment cabinet (alternative to S/2008/0703 refused 15 Oct 2008 allowed on appeal 27 May 2009) be granted subject to the conditions and for the reasons stated or referred to in the report.

Consideration of this matter had been deferred at the meeting held on 10 August 2011 to enable Members to consider the outcome of the meeting between Merseytravel and Network Rail regarding the issue of locating the mast on the car park adjacent to the site of an existing mast.

The Committee Administrator read out an e-mail from Mr. D. Jones, Integrated Transport Network Development Manager, Merseytravel to Councillor Griffiths. The e-mail indicated that Mr. D. Jones had met with Network Rail and Merseyrail representatives to discuss the potential to install a telecommunications mast within Formby Interchange. Both organisations were willing to consider the installation of the mast on the assumption that it would have no impact on the operation of the Interchange itself and more specifically on the operation of the rail services. Network Rail and Merseyrail were willing to meet with the phone company representatives to try to take this forward.   

RESOLVED:

That the recommendation be not approved and the application, submitted in accordance with the Prior Notification Procedure, for the erection of a replacement 15 metre high telecommunications mast and associated ground based equipment cabinet on the pavement at Marsh Brows, Formby, be refused for the reasons that:-

(1) the proposed mast, by virtue of its height, siting, diameter and its location close to residential property would have an adverse impact on the visual amenity of the street scene and outlook from nearby residential properties. The proposal is therefore contrary to policy MD8 of the Sefton UDP and advice contained in PPG8; and

(2) the applicant has failed to demonstrate a process of site selection that has considered nearby alternative sites. The scheme is therefore contrary to Policy MD8 of the Sefton UDP and advice contained in PPG8.