DOVER DISTRICT COUNCIL Agenda Item No 8 REPORT OF THE HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT PLANNING COMMITTEE 26 APRIL 2012 KINGSDOWN PARK HOLIDAY VILLAGE, UPPER STREET, KINGSDOWN Recommendation Approve the details. Contact Officer: Sarah Platts, extension 2464. Reason for Report 1. Applications for the approval of details pursuant to conditions on planning permissions are matters delegated to officers and are not subject to publicity and routine consultation. However, in this case, a number of letters have been submitted and it is considered prudent to bring the matter before Members. Background 2. The application site relates to Kingsdown Holiday Village, located just to the south ofthe village, with access gained via Upper Street. This leads to a car park, from whichpedestrian access is gained to the chalets. Facilities, such as the swimming pool and tennis courts, are located to the centre of the site. 3. The site currently provides seasonal chalet accommodation for occupiers. Planning permission has been granted for the 145 holiday chalets to be open for 52 weeks of the year. Planning permission was also granted for the additional four chalets, which were constructed pursuant to a 1997 application, to be open for 52 weeks. 4. Members granted planning permission for the year-round use at the meetings on 14 October 2010 (DOV/10/0325 Item 2) and 10 March 2011 (DOV/10/1150 Item 2), subject to conditions being attached to ensure that the chalets continue to only be used for holiday purposes and to require a parking layout. The conditions state the following; Condition 2 (both applications): The chalets to which this permission relates shall be occupied only for holiday purposes and by people whose principal home is located elsewhere. None of the chalets shall be occupied as a sole or main place of residence by any person (Dover District Core Strategy Policy DM1). Reason: To ensure that the holiday accommodation is not used to permanent residential occupation and remains available for tourist use. [This condition is included for Members' information it did not require the submission of any further details] Condition 3 (both applications): Prior to the implementation of this permission, details shall be submitted to an approved by the Local Planning Authority of the responsibilities for and means of maintaining and keeping a register of owners and occupiers of the chalets, as well as details of the form and content of the register and the timing of its introduction. The approved register shall be kept up to date at all times when the chalets are in use and shall include details of the home addresses and arrival and departure dates of all owners and occupiers. It shall be made available at all reasonable times to officers of the Local Planning Authority (Dover District Core Strategy Policy DM1). Reason: To ensure that the holiday accommodation is not used for permanent residential occupation and remain available for tourist use and to facilitate the proper enforcement of condition 2.
Condition 4 (DOV/10/00325 only): Prior to the implementation of this permission, full details of the space to be laid out for parking of cars within the site shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The permission shall not be implemented until that space and the vehicular access to it have been laid out and surfaced in accordance with the approved details and thereafter shall not be used for any purpose other than the parking of vehicles. Reason: In order to ensure that adequate parking is provided and maintained and in the interests of road safety and visual amenity. 5. The applicant s agent has submitted details pursuant to these conditions. The details include a description of how a register will be kept and what it will look like and a sample has been submitted. A plan has been submitted setting out the intended parking layout. In support of the details, the applicant's agent has submitted two letters from chalet owners broadly supporting the proposals. Consultee and Third Party Responses 6. Applications for the submission of details pursuant to conditions are not routinely publicised. Accordingly, there would not normally be an opportunity for local residents to comment. In this case, third parties have been aware of the submission and 26 letters have been received, including letters from Kingsdown Conservation Group and the Kingsdown Park Chalet Owners Association. Members will appreciate that all third party submissions have been summarised. Some are of considerable length. All are available for inspection. They raise the following points. Tingdene are the applicants/site owners. Method of registration A registration system is unworkable; Tingdene has not consulted the chalet owners; Administration problems; Unworkable, as the office shuts at 5pm; Administration burden if chalet owners have to register on the first day of each month; Potential for conflict between chalet owners and office staff; A clock-in system would work better; Most owners do not have a fixed date of departure; Objections to fining; Objections to clamping. Legislation has not yet been approved to enable wheel clamping; Some leaseholders have stated that they will not give Tingdene the required information, so Tingdene will be unable to comply with the conditions Passes If owners arrive in the evening and cannot collect a pass, will they not be able to use the facilities? Who will check the facility passes? Parking permits given to visitors in preference to owners would breach the leases The leases give the right for the unrestricted use of facilities Data Protection Does Tingdene have the legal right to share personal details and whereabouts of leaseholders and other visitors? Can personal data be held for five years? Security vetting status of staff handling the data
Matters concerning the leases Misrepresentation of leaseholders rights; In breach of leaseholders rights; In breach of Article 1 of the First Protocol of the Convention of Human Rights, as Tingdene would be forcing leaseholders to give up their peaceful enjoyment of their possessions; Tingdene only has sold off all their leasehold property so only has right to provide services. It does not have the right to implement a permit system or clamping or fines; Leaseholders have no legal obligation to register Parking Has County Highways visited the site to inspect the number of parking spaces available for visitors? There is a shortfall in parking spaces in the holiday park; Visitors arrive in more than one car; Impact on Kingsdown village, which is already congested; The parking proposed is unworkable; It is not possible to fit so many parking spaces on the grass area; Three parking spaces have been placed in the fire lane area, which needs to be kept clear; Family and friends will be clamped/ fined, even if only visiting for the day; What will happen for Blue Badge holders? Other Objections to all year opening; Objections to registration in principle; Failure to involve the leaseholders in discussions; Parking will further damage the grass; Concern about additional costs; The proposal has been put forward without consultation with Kingsdown Park Chalet Owners Association; The conditions are unworkable as they are totally dependent on the cooperation of leaseholders; Main Issues and Assessment 7. The principal issues are: Do the submitted details meet the requirements of the conditions? Is the parking arrangement workable? Condition 3 8. Condition 3 on each permission sets out a number of requirements, which are examined in turn. The responsibilities for and means of maintaining and keeping a register of owners and occupiers of the chalets. 9. The applicant s agent has advised that the General Manager would maintain the register, which is considered to be acceptable. 10. Concerns have been raised in relation to how Tingdene will ensure that all users of chalets will sign the register. The agent has provided a comprehensive description of how this will be done, for all the different types of holiday-makers (lease-holders, holiday-makers that rent chalets from Tingdene, on behalf of the lease-holders and holiday-makers/ visitors that rent/ use the chalets through the lease-holders).
11. The leases state that the leaseholders are required to comply with all requirements relating to their properties. If the leaseholders fail to comply with their lease, Tingdene will enforce. 12. Details of changes in the addresses of lease-holders main residence are required under the lease. The lease also requires that their main residence must be a place other than the park. As such, Tingdene already has a spread-sheet of the leaseholders main residences. 13. Where Tingdene organises holiday lettings on behalf of the leaseholders, details of the occupiers and bookings will be recorded upfront. 14. Where the leaseholders arrange their own lettings, details will be recorded at registration on arrival. 15. A sign will be erected (at the site entrance), which will advise all guests to register on arrival and departure and provide their vehicle registration. To ensure that everyone registers, the sign will advise that unregistered visitors and holiday makers will be fined and that the leaseholders will be subject to a charge. 16. For non-leaseholders: At registration, holiday-makers will be given a pass, entitling them to park at the site and another pass to use the site facilities (bar, restaurant, swimming pool, tennis courts, crazy golf and volley ball pitches). The passes will be collected from the site office on the day of arrival, or, if arriving after 5pm, by 10 a.m. the following day. The need for a pass will ensure that the holidaymakers go to the office to register. 17. For leaseholders: At the first registration in each month, lease-holders will be given a monthly pass to come and go freely within that month, as long as they register (in person, by email or text) on each day of arrival. There will be a fine if these rules are breached. 18. Car number plates will be checked regularly by two grounds staff employed by Tingdene. This duty will be added to the staff job descriptions. Details of the form and content of the register 19. The proposed register will be electronic, using a spread sheet. It will keep details of the occupiers and holiday makers, their names, home addresses, holiday start and end dates, telephone and email contact details and car registration details. 20. The spread sheet will show the occupation of every chalet in any year. It will be possible to click on each chalet to show a specific spread sheet, which will show the occupant name and contact details. A sample has been submitted to demonstrate this. The timing of its introduction 21. Tingdene is keen to implement it as soon as possible. Initially they had intended to operate the system from 13 February. The applicant s agent has stated that they intend to implement the register in April. This point is being further clarified. The approved register shall be kept up to date at all times when the chalets are in Use
22. The entrance sign will help to ensure that the register is kept up to date at all times. The applicant s agent states that leaseholders will also be reminded of their obligations to notify any changes of address annually. Any changes to the owners address or any changes of chalet ownership will be updated on the register. The register shall include details of the home addresses and arrival and departure dates of all owners and occupiers. 23. As already mentioned, the applicant s agent states that the register will keep details of all occupiers and holiday makers, their names, home addresses, holiday start and end dates, telephone and email contact details and car registration details. The register shall be made available at all reasonable times to officers of the Local Planning Authority 24. The applicant s agent states that the register will be made available to the Local Planning Authority offices during the opening hours of Kingsdown Park site office. This is considered reasonable and complies with the requirement of the condition. 25. The way in which Tingdene will cater for lease-holders arriving at the site late at night (i.e. how they will be able to use the facilities that night without a pass) and who will inspect the facility passes are matters for Tingdene to determine. Other matters relating to Condition 3 26. Breaches in the leases: A number of concerns have state that Tingdene cannot implement this system without breaching terms of the lease. For instance, third parties have stated that if parking permits are given to visitors in preference to owners, this would breach the lease. Also, requiring lease-holders to have a pass for use of the facilities would be contrary to their right to have unrestricted use of the facilities. A considerable number of concerns have also been raised relating to the intention of Tingdene to fine holiday-makers who do not register. However, the incorporation of parking permits and passes for facilities are incidental to the scheme in respect of the requirements of the condition. There is no requirement in planning terms for any pass system or fines/ clamping to be introduced and the registration scheme could operate with or without the passes. Members are requested to bear in mind that the management of the site is not an issue for concern here. The condition does not require details of how the register is enforced or what the consequences should be for those who do not register. This is an issue for Tingdene and leaseholders to resolve. 27. The details submitted still show a workable system to collect and maintain the register, even without the pass system and the threat of fines and as such, any lease complications that may arise in these areas are not considered to render the scheme unworkable. 28. Fears about potential breaches are not matters that should affect the determination of these details. If any breach arises, this would be a matter for enforcement. 29. Data Protection: The agent has stated that occupiers information (those who are not leaseholders) will be held for five years and will not be used for any purpose other than meeting the requirements of the Local Planning Authority. 30. One of the concerns raised by Kingsdown Conservation Group was whether Tingdene has the legal right to share the personal details and whereabouts of
leaseholders and other visitors to the holiday park with Dover District Council. 31. On this point, the Council s solicitor has advised that Tingdene would need to hold that data anyway and would be the data controller in accordance with the Data Protection Act. It is therefore their responsibility to comply with the Act. It may be appropriate for Tingdene to build a consent into their booking system so that people can sign to say that they agree their information may be shared with Dover District Council in accordance with the planning condition. The Council will inspect the information, not hold the information, and will comply with our obligations in accordance with the Data Protection Act in respect of any information shared. Condition 4 (Parking) 32. When the two applications were assessed, County Highways raised no objection to the schemes, advising that there was adequate parking within the site. A condition was attached to require a parking plan, as it was apparent that the existing parking arrangements do not reflect those approved under the original 1978 application (the lower car park is no longer available and there is now additional parking on the north eastern periphery of the chalets). This revised arrangement appears to have been in existence at the time of the 1997 application. 33. An updated parking plan was required by way of condition merely to replace the out of- date parking plan on the 1978, which can no longer be implemented and to reflect the way that the site is now being used. 34. The original submission included three possible parking layouts, to which County Highways raised no objection. Following discussions, Tingdene has chosen the layout they wish to implement, which is on display. 35. The applicant s agent has stated that the parking layout is similar to the drawing approved under the original application (DOV/97/206) for the four new chalets, with the only difference being that there are 107 spaces shown on the tarmac rather than 110, as the Highways Engineer had advised that three of the spaces were not workable. The approved plan under the DOV/97/206 application also showed additional parking for 88 vehicles on the grass to the north of the site, in the same location as that now proposed. As such, the parking area proposed now does not involve any change of use of the site, but matches the area already approved for vehicle-parking under the 1997 planning application. 36. A sample of grass protecta mesh has been submitted, which will be used on the non-tarmac areas. No additional tarmac will be laid, but the existing tarmac will be relined to match what is shown on plan. No new lighting will be provided. 37. The applicant s agent has confirmed that no works are required to any shrubs or trees. The tarmac area will not be extended, so the trees in this area would not be affected. The grass area, which has already been approved for use as car parking under DOV/97/206, will simply be covered by a mesh and will not affect any trees. 38. Concerns have been raised that the number of parking spaces cannot be achieved and in particular that three parking spaces have been placed in the fire lane. The fire access route on the site is denoted by two posts. It is 4m wide and was not recorded on the land survey on which the applicant s agent based the parking layouts. Guests do tend to park across the opening, but the parking layout will be amended to show this route and relocate the three spaces. However, in all other
respects, the plan shows the layout to be workable and officers have viewed the site and there is no apparent reason for it not to be successfully implemented. If Tingdene does not provide the space shown on plan for parking, then it will be in breach of condition and liable for enforcement action. 39. Concerns have also been raised about the short-falls in parking provision. However, as already mentioned, the amount of parking is not an issue for assessment here, as it was consider to be acceptable when the two applications were determined. The agent has also stated that the leases only permit leaseholders to bring one car onto site, but that Tingdene is happy to permit more than one car per chalet when the park is not full. 40. Concerns regarding the potential for increased traffic were assessed as part of the original planning applications (para 3.44 of report, 14 October 2010 (Item 2) and para. 3.11 of 10 March 2011 (Item 2). The implication on traffic movements were not considered to be a reason to oppose the applications and are not relevant to this condition. Conclusions and Other Matters 41. Concern has been raised that Tingdene has not consulted the chalet owners about the proposal. This is a management issue; there is no planning requirement for consultation to have taken place, nor is there a requirement for the Council to enter into such discussions. 42. It is acknowledged that the successful implementation of the conditions is dependent on the cooperation of the leaseholders. If Tingdene is unable to implement the register as approved, then there will be a breach of the planning permissions and they will be liable for enforcement action. However, the proposal put forward here has been well-thought through and it is considered that it can be implemented to meet the requirements of the conditions. It is not considered that an approval would disadvantage any particular group under the Equalities Act 2011. Recommendation I In respect of DOV/10/325, Subject to a satisfactory amended parking layout, THE DETAILS PURSUANT TO CONDITIONS 3 AND 4 BE APPROVED. II In respect of DOV/10/1150, THE DETAILS PURSUANT TO CONDITION 3 BE APPROVED. Background Papers Application files DOV/10/0325, DOV/10/1150, CON/10/0325 and CON/10/1150. Case Officer Sarah Platts