Committee Update Sheet – 14/05/2026

Firstly, the S111 and S106 have been drafted and are available to view online. Since the report, the applicant has agreed to include specifying the use of the proposed care home, by ensuring that elderly C2 care is secured via the S106 agreement. This is in addition to condition 3, which is also proposed to be re-worded to ensure reference is made to the care home element. As such, it is proposed the condition reads as follows;

The development hereby permitted shall be used only for purposes falling within Use Class C2 (Residential Institutions) of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) and shall be occupied only by elderly persons in need of care, together with staff and ancillary facilities, and for no other purpose.

In the interests of consistency, it is proposed to re-word the trigger points of condition 12, 17 and 25 to ‘Prior to the first occupation of the care home hereby permitted..’

We have also received a consultee response from the MOD who confirms that the proposed development would be considered to have no detrimental impact on the operation or capability of a defence site or asset. The MOD have no objection to the development proposed.

We have received two additional letters of representation since publication of the committee report which notes the following;

-           The redevelopment of the site as a care home is an excellent repurposing of the existing site.

-           However concerns regarding the current wildlife population at the site, particularly the numerous rabbits that live there and how they will be protected during development.

In response to this representation, it is noted rabbits are not routinely surveyed as a stand-alone species in ecological assessments. Ecological assessments focus on protected or priority species and important habitats. There is however a recommended condition for a construction ecological management plan to be submitted before development commences.

The CEMP condition would cover rabbits under mobile species, so pre-commencement surveys are required to be carried out. The CEMP would then need to explain avoidance and mitigation of harm to mobile species.  Inhumane treatment of any mammal would potentially be a criminal offence (primarily under the Animal Welfare Act 2006) and therefore a matter for the police.