ZE23/01660/MFUL

Dear Members

In relation to the above reference item, two further consultation responses from members of the public are available for Members.

This includes a letter from Mr and Mrs Woolsey attached above, residing at The Old Orchard, Cornborough Road, Sheriff Hutton which is attached above for review. This was not scanned to the public file in error but this has now been rectified.  

A further consultation email has been received from Mr O’Neill residing at Milldale, Sheriff Hutton, which was not available to the Case Officer prior to the publication of the agenda. This is copied below:

“Dear Niamh

Thank you for your letter. My apologies for the slightly late reply, but I have been away for a few days.

Having reviewed the revised application, I am pleased to see that the proposed shop has been removed from the application.

However I am still very concerned about the number, size and materials of the proposed chalets.

Having been professionally  involved in many applications that have required a Visual Impact Assessment, I have absolutely no confidence in them. You can almost always get the outcome you desire as an applicant.  In my opinion, you have to make an educated qualitative assessment based on the facts in front of you.  Common sense makes it abundantly clear that 24 large plastic lodges on the side of a hill are going to be visually intrusive.  This cannot be denied. The problem is threefold; there are too many of them; they are too big; and the material’s proposed are totally incongruous in the rural landscape.

The 15 units in the approved scheme, would still be obtrusive, but at least it could be mitigated with good landscaping and tree planting.

I have commented previously about the amount of tourist accommodation relative to the number of houses in the village, There are half as many tourist chalets and caravans as houses. The Village has said in past Village Plans that it does not want any more.

In terms of scale, I have pointed out previously that these units are not small, they are the size of houses! 

In terms of materials, no colours or textures are specified – there is not even a photo or any reference to manufactures literature. Why is this? I would strongly urge the Committee to ask for colour photos, or to make a site visit to where the can actually see the proposed units for themselves.  Only then will they be in a position to make an informed, qualitative decision.

My primary objection remains that this development takes the footprint of the village out over the top of Daskett Hill, tumbling down into valley to the north -  Something that the settlement has actively avoided doing in its long history.

Yours sincerely

Chris O’Neill”

Kind regards

Niamh Bonner