Agenda item - Enfield Town Article 4 Directions

Agenda item

Enfield Town Article 4 Directions

To receive a report from the Executive Director Regeneration and Environment regarding Article 4 Directions for the Enfield Town Conservation Area.                                                                                     (Report No: 38)

(Key Decision Reference No: 4322)

 

Council is asked to approve the recommendations in the report. 

Minutes:

Councillor Anderson moved and Councillor Pite seconded the report of the Executive Director Regeneration and Environment reviewing the Enfield Town Article 4 Directions.  (Report No: 38)

 

NOTED

 

1.               The points highlighted by the majority group: 

 

·       Council has a duty to protect, preserve and enhance its conservation areas.  Over several years in the past it has introduced three Article 4 directions to allow it to remove permitted development rights to protect the building and design of the Enfield Town area.  Due to recent changes in legislation, there is now a need to update these directives.  A review has been carried out, the recommendations in the report put forward and commended to Council. 

·       The review had also taken account of the proposals in the Enfield Town Masterplan, which had recently been released for consultation.

·       The proposals were being put in place to rationalise the existing regulations and to protect the interests of Enfield Town, one of the borough’s oldest conservation areas, from inappropriate modifications. 

·       The proposals would allow permitted development rights to be removed from the wider area.  These were fair and transparent proposals which were to be put out for public consultation before a final decision which would be delegated to the Planning Committee. 

 

2.               The concerns of the Opposition: 

 

·       That the implementation of the directions would not take effect immediately and therefore would allow unscrupulous people to make changes before they are implemented.

·       About the lack of enforcement action taken and the lack of adequate resources to implement any actions.

·       That the heritage of Enfield Town had not been looked after as well as it could have been.

 

3.               The response from the Majority Group that there had to be a time delay when introducing such changes as they had to be subject to consultation.  There were challenges in carrying out enforcement action particularly in the light of Government cuts, when the financial situation was so tight, but the Council were doing their best to put in place a structure on which to base enforcement.

 

Following the debate the recommendations were put to the vote and agreed unanimously: 

 

AGREED

 

1.               To approve the serving of a non-immediate Article 4(1) Direction under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (2015) upon all properties and shown on the attached map at Appendix 1 for the whole of the Enfield Town Conservation Area, withdrawing permitted development rights as set out in the schedule attached at Appendix 2.

 

2.               To authorise the statutory consultation as set out in The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order (2015) Schedule 3.

 

3.               To authorise the Planning Committee to have regard to the representations received during consultation and confirm or cancel the new Article 4 (1) Direction or as directed by the Secretary of State and to cancel the existing 1978 and 2006 directions.

 

4.               To note that the existing Article 4 Directions covered 343 residential properties in the conservation area of which 29 were addressed as flats and that the new order would cover 900 residential properties of which 215 were addressed as flats. 

Supporting documents: