Agenda and minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

There were no substitute members.

Members and Officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such as interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

Members and Officers may seek advice upon any relevant interest from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting.

Cllr Noel Atkins declared an interest as an elected member of West Sussex County Council in relation to any issues that may affect West Sussex.

Cllr Richard Nowak declared that he was a member of the Worthing Society who had registered to ask two public questions at this meeting.

Cllr Henna Chowdhury declared an interest as an elected member of West Sussex County Council in relation to any issues that may affect West Sussex.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Friday 16 August 2024.

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services –

democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note:  Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were three pre submitted questions received from the public. 

Question 1 - (Resident) 

As per The Department of Sport, Infrastructure, & Technology’s permitted development rights approvals process (for masts under 25m in conservation areas), Worthing Borough Council failed to consult Heene Terrace residents about the installation of the County Council’s 5G mast, plus, clauses CT3 (protecting existing residential sea views) and Article 4 (designed to protect heritage assets from impactful permitted development) were both not invoked – therefore, will Worthing Borough Council accept they failed “to use their best endeavours at all times to preserve the amenities” (and setting) of (grade 2 listed) Heene Terrace premises and as a result have broken the terms of the 1951 land conveyance (Title no. WSX300986) and must relocate the mast?

The Interim Head of Planning and Development replied - 

Regarding masts under 25 metres in conservation areas, although at the moment they are, in effect just poles and not masts as yet, they have been erected by the County Council under permitted development rights as a highways authority for road signage onto which, it has been well advertised on their website that small sale infrastructure will be added to them. The permitted development right that is referred to in the question does not apply in this case and therefore there isn’t an obligation for the Borough Council to consult residents on the installation of the masts.

With respect to the next part of the question which is quoted from an old Local Plan, again, this would not apply because it is not an application against which those policies could be applied. Article 4, referred to in the question, is when Permitted Development Rights can be withdrawn and then planning permission would be required. This is rarely done for highways infrastructure as it would be, in effect, the Borough Council telling the County Council they couldn’t put up lamp posts etc. So again, that would not apply here.

The 1951 Land Conveyance referred to in the question, which is not a document the Planning Department holds, is a separate document and, as with covenants, are not part of the planning process. Anything that is conferred by a landowner is completely separate from planning and so, in effect, all I’ve said so far does not apply if there are separate land considerations. Our Legal Officers have advised that this conveyance refers to the garden at Heene Terrace, not to highways land and therefore the pole is not on land affected by the conveyance.

Supplementary - The question asker stated he believes the conveyance states that the council must protect the amenities of the premises and lists the numbers of the houses on Heene Terrace, which is not referring to the garden. Therefore he stated he feels that the Officer had not been advised correctly by the Legal Officers.

Question 2 - (Worthing Society)

The Beach Project aims to improve mobile phone connectivity in the town centre area with the installation of 16 masts. This clearly  ...  view the full minutes text for item WBC-PC/20/24-25

Pre-submitted Members questions are pursuant to rule 12 of the Council & Committee Procedure Rules.

Questions should be submitted by midday on Friday 16 August 2024 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk     

(Note: Member Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no pre submitted questions from Members.

To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting of the Committee held on Wednesday 24 July 2024, which have been emailed to Members.

RESOLVED, that the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 24 July 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chair.

To consider any items the Chair of the meeting considers urgent.

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

To consider the reports by the Assistant Director for Regenerative Development, attached as Item 7.

The applications were determined as set out in the attached appendix.