YPI first flats application - appeal result

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the appeal against the Council’s original decision to turn down the first application, that for 89 flats, on the YPI front car park has been turned down by the Planning Inspectorate.

The full findings of the Inspector are available from the Planning Inspectorate website. They say that this plan would have damaged the view of open greenspace and that no sufficiently over-riding counter-arguments were offered by the appellant.  The Inspector also says the design would go against the national Planning Policy Framework by not addressing the connection between people and places or integrating new development into the built environment.  Moreover, the loss of open space would also be unacceptably harmful to the character and appearance of the area.  The inspector concluded that the occupants of the flats would have no trouble getting a bus, and that arguments relating to noise and nuisance were not really applicable, but that these were not reason enough to allow the appeal.

YPI planning application for phone mast

John Fareham and John Abbott have details of a planning application for a 20m/65ft high telecommunications mast to be erected on the YPI grounds.

At the time of going to press full details were only visible by visiting the Planning offices in Kingston House and were yet to be uploaded to the Council website. The details we have apart from that are that the mast will have two aerials, three dish antennas and three base cabinets plus ancillary equipment in a fenced-off area adjoining the YPI access road.  If you wish to pass comment one way or the other the application reference number is 12/00840/FULL, and you can write to Planning Services, Kingston House, Bond Street, Hull HU1 3ER or E-mail dev.control@hullcc.gov.uk. In either instance it would be helpful, though not strictly necessary, to have your comments in before 12 October 2012.

The planning rules on telecoms masts are slightly different. Any mast under 15m/49ft high is automatically decided on by the officers; over that height and as soon as somebody passes comment, for or against, it automatically comes to Committee.   The criteria the Committee will then use are set out in Section BE14 of the City Plan which states that “telecommunications equipment will be allowed if the apparatus is sited and designed, taking account of operational needs, to minimise its impact on amenity. 

Chanterlands Avenue road works

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the postponement of road works being carried out on Chanterlands Avenue by Northern Power Grid until essential repairs to the County Road North flyover have been completed.

A number of local residents have drawn our attention to the fact that one lot of road works at any given time may be acceptable, but two lots look more like gridlock in the offing.  We therefore contacted the officers who got on to Northern Power Grid. They in turn agreed that all their works on Chanterlands Avenue would stop, whether completed or not, and the road would be fully opened before County Road North was closed down for repairs and work on Chanterlands Avenue would not resume until work on the flyover was complete.

Newland Park resurfacing

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the resurfacing of Newland Park carriageways to take place in October.

This work follows on from extensive consultation between ourselves and the Newland Park Residents’ Association and, surprised as we were to find them reporting a majority of local residents preferring black to red tarmac, if that is what local residents want that it what we will do. It goes without saying that John and I will wish to attend to any issues arising out of quality of workmanship or other matters relating to the manner in which the work is carried out.”

Playing field blocked off to travellers

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the placing of two large concrete cylinders in front of the entrance to the former William Gee site as an obstacle to travellers who may wish to get on there in the future.

We have made this attempt at effective traveller-proofing of open land in the city after it became obvious to us and the officers that plain, bog-standard locks and chains were neither use nor ornament in stopping people with certain readily available tools. It has taken a good deal of effort to ensure that these obstacles were put in place quickly but it is clear officers took us seriously when we said local residents had had enough of travellers and that a proper solution needed to be put in place to keep them off.

Kenilworth Avenue foliage trimming

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the trimming of bushes overhanging Kenilworth Avenue.

We have referred the state of the bushes surrounding the cemetery to the officers on the grounds that local residents were complaining that they had to walk down Kenilworth Avenue in single file.  This we considered unacceptable, and so did the officers. As a result  they have arranged for the longer overhanging branches to be trimmed – which will already have been done by the time you read this – with the regular “flailing” to get the rest of the foliage sorted scheduled as per usual.  It goes without saying that we will continue to take an interest in this matter until the pavement on the odd-numbered side of Kenilworth Avenue is fully accessible to pedestrians.

St Mary's Nursing Home planning application

John Fareham and John Abbott have details of a planning application for a substantial expansion of the premises of St Mary’s Nursing Home on Chanterlands Avenue.

As they stand, the present premises will accommodate 38 elderly people.  The plan is to build an extension which will increase the capacity by a further 64 bedrooms so that the existing premises can accommodate people with such problems as dementia, and the more advanced nursing requirements that go with them, and the new part can hold people who do need looking after because of such health problems as stroke rehabilitation or because of simply being elderly and frail. The plan also makes provision for a longer access road and more on-site parking. If you wish to express an opinion for or against the application the reference number is 12/00683/FULL and the contact details remain the same as usual – e-mails go to dev.control@hullcc.gov.uk and letters to Planning Services, Kingston House, Bond Street, Hull HU1 3ER. Full details of the application are available to download from the Planning page of the Council website.

Murrayfield Road and Huntley Drive mowing

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the mowing of the overgrown grass verges on Murrayfield Road and Huntley Drive.

Whilst passing by on other business we noticed that the state of these verges left something to be desired – namely, thorough attention with a lawn-mower.  We therefore contacted the officers who have since replied that those doing the mowing were more or less back on schedule after the unseasonal growing conditions we have had of late – all that rain hasn’t exactly shortened the grass – and that they would be made aware of Murrayfield Road and Huntley Drive and would be round within the next few days.  It goes without saying that we will continue to pursue this issue in the future and will seek to keep the corporate centre up to speed.

Newland Park street sweeping

John Fareham and John Abbott have been seeking improvements to the street sweeping arrangements in Newland Park.

John Fareham says, “A number of local residents came to our last forum-on-the-move but one and raised their concerns about the general standard of street cleaning here and particular about the state of the gutters.  The officers have replied that the crews were instructed to clean when possible Newland Park at the beginning of the day before it started filling with cars. They also stated a revised cleansing schedule was introduced a week or so ago and that the changes are a result of issues and omissions raised by John and myself, local residents and staff. A new performance framework has also, they tell us, been introduced to enable the service to more robustly monitor cleansing staff performance / quality of work undertaken. Newland Park has litter bins emptied, de littered and hand swept as required every Monday and the visited by a mechanical sweeper every 2 weeks on a Friday.We remain concerned, however, about the state of the gutters and will continue to raise this with the officers.”