West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee - Wednesday 17 December 2025, 6:30pm - Buckinghamshire Council Webcasting

West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee
Wednesday, 17th December 2025 at 6:30pm 

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  1. Cllr Mark Turner
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  1. Jenny Ion
  2. Cllr Mark Turner
  3. Cllr Matthew Walsh
  4. Cllr Mark Turner
  5. Cllr Gary Hall
  6. Cllr Mark Turner
  7. Public Speaker
  8. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  9. Cllr Mark Turner
  10. Public Speaker
  11. Cllr Mark Turner
  12. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  13. Cllr Mark Turner
  14. Public Speaker
  15. Cllr Mark Turner
  16. Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja
  17. Cllr Mark Turner
  18. Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja
  19. Jenny Ion
  20. Cllr Mark Turner
  21. Jenny Ion
  22. Cllr Matthew Hind
  23. Jenny Ion
  24. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  25. Jenny Ion
  26. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  27. Jenny Ion
  28. Cllr Shade Adoh
  29. Jenny Ion
  30. Cllr Mark Turner
  31. Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja
  32. Jenny Ion
  33. Cllr Mark Turner
  34. Jenny Ion
  35. Cllr Mark Turner
  36. Cllr Matthew Hind
  37. Jenny Ion
  38. Cllr Mark Turner
  39. Cllr Matthew Hind
  40. Cllr Michael West
  41. Cllr Mark Turner
  42. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  43. Jenny Ion
  44. Cllr Mark Turner
  45. Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja
  46. Cllr Shade Adoh
  47. Jenny Ion
  48. Cllr Mark Turner
  49. Cllr Shade Adoh
  50. Jenny Ion
  51. Cllr Alex Collingwood
  52. Cllr Mark Turner
  53. Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja
  54. Cllr Matthew Hind
  55. Cllr Mark Turner
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee. Before
we begin, I've got a couple of housekeeping items. The meeting is webcast and filmed.
Entering the room signifies your consent to be recorded. If, however, you are a member
of the public and wish to avoid being filmed simply speak to the committee
clerk they will be happy to help you sit in the location outside the cameras view
the other thing is in case of a fire alarm the nearest fire exit is at the
back of the chamber we use this exit to evacuate please follow my direction the
assembly point is located outside to the left of the council building so gender
item one is apologies for absence
had apologies from Councillor Armand, Alan, Councillor Alan Sherwell and Councillor Larissa

2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Mark Turner - 0:01:16
Townsend. Thank you. The second item is any declarations of interest. Thank you. And so
we turn to minutes of the previous meeting held on the 19th of November 2025. If everybody's
Happy with the minutes.
I'll sign them.
Agreed?
Thank you.

3 Minutes of the Last Meeting

Thank you.
That's good.
So we now move to the application,

4 24/06542/FUL - Princes Risborough School, Merton Road, Princes Risborough, HP27 0DR

which is reference 24 -06542 -4
for a development at Princes -Risborough School,
Merton Road, Princes -Risborough, HP 27 0D R. I'd like to hand over to Jenny
Ihan who will introduce this item. Thank you Chairman. So the application before
Jenny Ion - 0:02:02
you is for the construction of a new synthetic pitch and for a multi -use
games area, otherwise known as a mugger, with associated flood lighting and
fencing to replace the existing natural grass area and existing mugger and for
the creation of three buns in the grass playing fields.
So I would first draw your attention to the updates
which you've been provided with.
There is an amendment to the description.
The application was amended to have three buns, not two.
Secondly, we have received correspondence from the applicant
who are proposing a change to,
they would like to suggest a change to condition eight
in terms of the operating hours of the facility
with an earlier finish time on weekdays.
Essentially, they have suggested two options
that they would be happy with.
One is a finish at 9 o 'clock on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays with a 9 .30 finish on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The alternative is a 9 o 'clock finish Mondays to Fridays
with the exception of 10 occasions per year
when they would need once finish at 9 .30 to accommodate football cup fixtures and potential for extra time and so forth.
So we are still recommending the original Condition 8, but if members are minded that they would like to take up one of those alternative hours options in terms of changing Condition 8,
I have set out suggested wording for either option in the update for you.
To introduce the application now, the site comprises part of the grounds of the school
and is those areas used for outdoor sport and recreation.
The majority of the whole school site is within the Princess Risborough settlement boundary,
with the exception of the new road access and the grass playing pitches adjacent to
new road, which are both in the green belt and the Chilterns National Landscape.
The multi -use games area and the all -weather pitch are within an area of designated green
space as set out in the delivery and site allocations plan.
A green space designation recognises an area which is important for recreational or amenity
value.
So the proposed development would replace the existing mugger and a grass play area
and instead replace them with a new mugger with three courts and an artificial grass
pitch.
Both the courts and the pitch will be floodlit, the mugger with eight
metre high columns and the pitch with six 15 metre high columns. So the
continued use of this area for recreation is consistent with the green
space designation. Associated with the development it is proposed to create
three buns around the periphery of the grass pitches to New Road. These would be
up to one metre in height and use spoiler rising from the work to create
the mugger and the artificial grass pitch. It is proposed that outside of
school hours on weekday evenings and at weekends the new facilities would be
available for community use. Sport England who are a statutory
consultee do not subject to the proposals subject to securing community
use of the new facilities. An earlier objection which they raised due to
concerns over the impact of the buns on the usability of the grass pitches was
was drawn following amendments to the location of the bunds.
During the course of the application, the applicant has clarified that the construction
traffic would access the site via New Road, not Merton Road as they had originally stated,
and it is also intended that users of the facilities would use the New Road access.
The application was accompanied by various documents as is set out in the report, and
those include a noise impact assessment and detailed lighting drawing.
They have also provided a draught noise management plan.
The first plan there shows you the general location and layout.
You can see the red area is to the bottom left, that's where the pitches would be.
The top right is where the buns would be.
So the next plan shows the general layout.
The green area is the all -weather pitch and the grey area is the proposed mugger.
At the top of the drawing is the area of the staff car park which is between those areas
and the back of the Merton Road properties.
This is a diagrammatic representation of the lighting columns and the different heights
as well as the columns for the mugger and the pitch.
A couple more lighting columns are proposed around the path area of the site.
This is the drawing that sets out the lighting plan. The red figures, which I'm
afraid you won't be able to read on the screen, set out the intensity of
illumination on the pitch and then the blue wavy lines around it set out the
level of illumination and light spill around the pitch. The outer blue line is
a level of one lux and you can see that's just inside the school boundary.
We now have a picture showing details of the fencing.
It shows the sectional drawing, the length of the pictures and the mugger.
Some further details of the fencing.
The fencing around the picture and the mugger would be a mesh type fencing finished in a
green colour.
The close boarded fence is the acoustic fence which would be four metres high and which would run the length of the pitch between the pitch and the staff car park.
This shows the existing levels on the site. There is a slight change in levels across the site.
The red at the bottom is the bunds around the edge of the site. That's the highest level falling to the lower level which is the blue area.
The changes to the level would create a much more level playing area for the pitches and
you can see a slight fall still across the site but much less than the existing situation.
This plan shows you the areas which would be excavated or raised in terms of changes
to the level.
So the biggest change is the area which is red which would be reduced in height and the
blue area there would be a slight raising of the level.
This shows you where the grass pitches are and this shows you how they would now be able
to be maintained for a variety of uses with the bunding areas at the top corner, the left
hand corner and then along the boundary on the south east side.
The bunds would be a say up to a metre in height.
That just shows you the general arrangement of the site and its relationship to the surrounding
areas.
We now go on to the photographs.
The first photograph is a view from within the site towards the main entrance from Merton
Road.
This shows the staff car park.
The boundary between the car park and the Merton Road properties is to the right where
the row of trees can be seen.
This is now coming a little bit further into the site.
You can see the sports centre there, and to the left of the sports centre is the access
through to take you to where the new road access comes in to the site.
So that again shows you the area next to the sports centre, is a sort of playground area
there which can be used for evening parking.
This is now swinging around slightly and you can see the end of the existing multi -use
games area and the area in the foreground would actually become part of the new mugger.
So that's swinging around again and you can see beyond the existing hard surfacing there
is a rise in the ground levels up towards the footpath and the site boundary.
That's looking further around the site.
So we're now starting to look towards the end of the site.
And again that's looking down the site towards the Upper Itanil Way boundary or footpath
boundary I think.
So this is where we've got the staff car park.
You can see the fence, the post and rail fencing there is the boundary between where the grass
pitch would be a grass playing area be replaced by the the artificial grass
pitch and beyond that fencing is then the car park and then the the landscape
screening which is along the boundary to the Merton Road properties. So that's
again looking down the site towards the site boundary and the footpath so that
area would be taken up by the artificial grass pitch. That's swinging round back again to
the boundary with one of the footpaths. And again, and similarly, and then the next one.
And that's about looking back towards the existing multi -use games area. You can see
again the banking up towards the boundary with the footpath.
Okay, and that's then looking back down the site
towards the sports centre.
Next one.
And again, similar.
And the next one.
So now we're down in what appears to be known
as the top field, but is actually further down the hill,
which the grass playing pitches.
So the area that you're looking at there
is towards the boundary where the long bund would be.
And again looking down towards that boundary.
And similarly that's a longer view down across the pictures towards that boundary where the
bund would be, just in front of the hedge at the end.
This is looking towards the top corner where one of the smaller areas of bunding would
be near to the new road access. And the next one. And that is looking towards the opposite
corner where there would be further bunding and we're sort of looking towards beyond that
hedging that you can see as the new road access comes in behind there. Next. And similarly
looking up the pictures again towards that area where the bunding would be in the corners.
This is the point where the byway crosses the new road access.
You can see the cobbling there is the surface for the new road access and then you can see
the path going off to one side there.
Next slide shows it going off and across on the other side.
Then the next slide shows you where the crossing is and then the gates into the school grounds.
There are other gates adjacent to New Road itself, but these are up nearer the school
grounds. This shows you the coach drop -off area where
also parents drop -off their children in the mornings and pick up in the evenings and that
will be the way in from the New Road access. That shows you the route from there through
down towards the main part of the school grounds between the sports hall on the left and the dining
area on the right, taking you towards the pictures. And the next, I think that's the last one, that's
just a general view of the site for you. So the key issues are set out in your report on pages 12
to 19. They are the design and layout of the proposal, the impact of the proposal on the
light, noise and activity on the site, the impact on the character and appearance of
the area generally and on the setting of the adjacent Chilterns National Landscape, access
and sustainability, surface water drainage and the impact on ecology and achieving a
biodiversity net gain.
The recommendation is that permission should be granted subject to the conditions set out
in the report as well as there are some minor additions or alterations to the conditions
in addition to reasons that are set out in the update.
So the conditions are on pages 20 to 24 of your report.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jenny.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:14:51
We have public speaking on this occasion
from Councillors Matt Walsh
and Councillors Gary Hall, board members,
and from Cheryl Harrison, who's an objector,
and from Gemma Arnold -Gerning from Insignis,
Academy Trust who is the applicant. So if we could go to Councillor Matt Walsh first,
you have three minutes. Thank you.
Cllr Matthew Walsh - 0:15:16
Thank you, Chairman, and thank you very much for allowing me to attend the site visit on
Tuesday morning. Just for the record, Chairman, I have checked with the Deputy Monitoring
Officer of the Council, but I live in close proximity to the site but not close enough
to be directly notified of the application and on that basis he was
content for my participation in the process. I called in the application
along with Councillor Hall and Councillor Turner at the time for two key reasons
really. One the application was published during the school holidays which I know
there was no malice intended but that would not allow decent communication with
the school because they simply weren't there and I was concerned about that.
The second thing was concerns from local residents,
in particular residents of Clifford Road, New Road,
and Merton Road.
I appreciate there have been significant changes
since the application, especially the alterations
that have been proposed today.
I still think that overall the community
wants a facility like this.
The question to the committee is,
is the operational timings right
when you take into account bank holidays and Sundays,
Is that something that needs to be looked at further to release pressure?
I do know that the Environmental Health Officer has noted some improvement into the overall scheme
But still has some concerns regarding noise and light and I think
Alleviation by moving to nine o 'clock suggested by the applicant will move forward whether this committee wishes to consider
Bank holidays in addition as well. I think that might be noted by some of our
Red local residents and
I'd also like to just focus on the traffic car parking situation as you saw from the site visit we had on Tuesday there is ample car parking there.
So if this application was to be approved I would hope that the general consensus would be the Clifford Road and Merton Road are not suitable for the vast majority of events that are held there.
I think that pretty much covers everything for me.
Thank you.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:17:30
Thank You councillor Walsh does anybody have any points of clarification for
councillor Walsh? Thank You councillor Hall you have three minutes thank you
Thank You chairman I really want to echo much of what councillor Walsh has said
Cllr Gary Hall - 0:17:46
I'm very familiar with the site I grew up actually next door to the school the
other side of the boundary fence and I've seen it change somewhat over the
years. This facility is very welcomed by the community but I am very
mindful that it has to be neighbourly and to use Clifford Road and Merton Road
as an access would be unacceptable to me purely because of the amount of parked
cars and the narrow width of the carriageway and the the inconvenience
that it would bring to the residents especially when the access road in New
Road is totally suitable for that and there is ample parking from the new road
access so I think that must be part of the conditions set down that we don't
use Clifford Road and Merchant Road as an access. On the second page of the
supplement there's a paragraph at the top that sets out revised terms and
conditions that would certainly find my support. As I say I think this is
I'm very welcome by the
community but I'm very mindful
of the impact that it has on
residents. So, this must be a
neighbourly site. Um if you
think about the Cressix School
site and when you pass that
over by Asda, that is lit well
into the late evening but there
are no houses around. Um so,
this is very very close to you
know, long established housing.
So, the impact on those
residents must be absolutely minimised and I think that's all I need to say
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:19:26
thank you. Thank You councillor Hall. Any questions of clarification? No, thank you.
So we move to our third speaker Cheryl Harrison. You have three minutes Cheryl.
Thank you. There is already provision for these facilities in the 2019 Wickham
Public Speaker - 0:19:47
local plan in Mill Lane which should be upheld as this is not on a school site
it would be available to the community during the day as well as the evening.
This proposal is too close to housing and would result in an unacceptable
intensification of noise traffic and light pollution on the site. The huge
increase in the hours is enabled by floodlights. The intended density of use
of the new facilities out of school hours throughout the year is unacceptable.
For instance, with both pitches used for five -a -side matches, there would be 80 players plus referees involved.
Your own specialist environmental health officer states it would cause, and I quote,
a significant change to the nature and character of the area, in our view to its detriment.
The noise report suggests a moderate change in the overall noise climate.
we have no confidence in this as levels will be significantly increased by
spectator noise which has not been measured or considered. Neither has
additional noise produced by amplified sound systems and sports clubs social
events which could be considerable. Report data is on average noise rather
than the peaks which cause the stress and negative impacts to health. If you
are minded to give permission we suggest you follow the advice of your
Environmental Health Officer on the 1st of October 2024 of finish times of 8 p .m. Monday to Friday, 6 p .m. Saturday and no use on Sunday or public holidays.
If there are no complaints after two years the school could apply for an extension.
The current highways report is flatly contradicted by the conclusions of the previous highways officer regarding the sports hall planning decision in 2013.
Use of the new road bus access was a condition of use for the Sports Hall.
Clifford and Merton Road were deemed unsuitable because of the many parked vehicles making it dangerous
and the congestion caused by cars waiting to turn into Clifford Road from the A4010.
Larger bookings are still proposed to use Merton Road.
they should therefore not be permitted to use Clifford and Merton Road as parking and traffic have dramatically increased since
2013
New Road was only permitted for the sports hall because its size limited the level of traffic generated
Therefore it wouldn't be suitable for the much larger traffic footprint of the AGP and mugger
Neither access route is suitable for a facility of this size
The site is at the top of a hill and visible for miles so 15 metre flood
lighting poles and the light from the facility and car parks would be intrusive
to residents and the amenity of the Chilterns national landscape. Light
pollution is proposed to be mitigated. I'm sorry you've had your three minutes I
upon I'm sorry no it's three minutes is the Constitution I'm sorry I can't do
that I'm big upon so do we have any points of clarification for the speaker
Excuse me, sorry, it's not a public debate, thank you.
Are there highways with us? Because then I'll ask the direct question to highways later.
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:23:31
We don't have a highways officer here, no, but we have our officers here.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:23:42
Sorry, Mr Chairman, can I just say I read in the instructions for this meeting that I was allowed to finish a sentence
Public Speaker - 0:23:46
if I was in the middle of a sentence when the time cut out.
I would like to say that the...
You have three minutes and that is it.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:23:55
Despite that, we can ask points of clarification.
Right, I would appreciate.
Excuse me.
But that is if one of the members wants
to ask a point of clarification.
It would be appreciated, thank you.
Does anybody want to ask a point of clarification?
And this is a point of clarification,
this is not a question time.
So do you have any, does everybody understand what was said?
No thank you. I understand exactly what was said Gemma but yeah. Thank you. I'll leave it at that.
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:24:25
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:24:30
Our fourth speaker is Gemma Arnold -Gunning, the applicant. You have three minutes.
Public Speaker - 0:24:39
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Gemma Arnold -Gunning. I'm the Chief
Risborough School forms part of. I'm here to speak in support of the application for the new 3G
artificial grass pitch at Risborough School. I want to focus my time on the positive,
human and strategic impact of this proposal for our town and our school.
Prince's Risborough School is on a remarkable journey of transformation.
Since joining our trust, we have been able to shake off a historically very negative reputation
through excellent leadership and positive student engagement and
enrichment. This has resulted in the school receiving a good Ofsted rating
and a shift in ranking for student outcomes amongst Bucks Secondary School,
previously at the bottom ranking number 35 to now 12th in the county. Student
attendance has improved by 3 % and persistence absence has been halved. We
We are successfully meeting the needs of more local families evidenced by having 198 first -choice
applicants for 180 spaces.
We are oversubscribed.
The main school building itself is the approaching end of life and we are working hard to invest
in capital improvements.
We now need our physical infrastructure to reflect our performance and academic ambition.
The 3G pitch is part of that inspiration for growth and development. Our current grass
pitches can be unreliable due to weather constraints, forcing us to cancel critical PE lessons,
fixtures and community use. This directly hinders our holistic goal, building resilient,
healthy young people. This facility will revolutionise our curriculum. A 3G service guarantees 12
months of high quality sport. It means no more cancelled matches, no mud heavy PE lessons
and will drive a huge increase in participation rates. It supports our goal to build resilient,
healthy young people. Our students, our young people and wider community absolutely deserve
this investment. We've already shown our commitment to improving the facilities at the school
through significant investment, the refurbished Hawthorne building, the sixth form centre,
our own condition improvement programme. The pitch is the logical and essential next step
to this investment. This application goes far beyond the school gates. It is an asset
for the wider community and represents true partnership. We know there is a chronic shortage
of quality floodlit training areas locally, with grassroots teams having to travel to
Aylesbury and Tame the approval of this pitch creates a vital community hub
Through our professional letting's organisations. We will provide facility
Sorry, your three minutes is up
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:27:45
Then we have any questions clarification for the speaker
Councillor Roger
Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja - 0:27:55
Thank you chairman is a quick question. Are you the only school in Prince's, Risborough secondary one or the others?
We're the only school in Prince's, Risborough secondary. Yes
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:28:03
No further questions, then we'll move on to technical questions for the officer committee have any technical questions, please
Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja - 0:28:20
Councillor Roger. Thank you. Obviously we've heard from Council
of Orland Walsh and regarding Clifford Road and Burton Road. Can we stop people parking
there or do we have the ability to funnel them onto new road for parking?
Jenny Ion - 0:28:44
One of the conditions we have suggested is that details would be approved of how the
parking and access would be managed for the use of the facilities out of hours.
But in terms of there being any parking restrictions on Clifford Road or Merton Road, there are
no double yellow lines or anything like that.
So to answer your question, we couldn't actually stop people parking there, but we could put
in place an agreement that the school would try and manage the parking and access to their
site to use the new road access, yes.
Sorry, I was just going to say they could for instance close the gate at Merton Road
as an example.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:29:19
Jenny Ion - 0:29:24
Yeah, I mean if the road, there's two, obviously a pedestrian gate and a vehicular gate in
from Merton Road so the school could manage it. It was part of their plan that traffic
wasn't able to come in via Merton Road. Whether they would allow pedestrian access I don't
know. But that could, because if you have people arriving on foot rather than by car
then you might want to maintain pedestrian access through from that point because it
would be a very long walk round otherwise.
Councillor Hines.
Cllr Matthew Hind - 0:29:56
There was mention of complaints or concerns raised by people living on New Road about
the additional traffic that this would generate. I'm surprised, have you got any details of
that? Other than which is what's been reported in
Jenny Ion - 0:30:10
a summary of the representations, I haven't got any specific details about that. Clearly
highways have looked at the nature of the New Road access and whether it's suitable
for the level of trip generation associated with the cities and they are happy with that
proposal. Many members were sitting on site it's quite a substantial roadway.
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:30:36
Council Conlonwood. Thank you. In your presentation, I think you showed a
diagram with some red dots.
I assume that was lighting, cows and lighting displays?
There was a lighting diagram, yes.
I assume the way that they now work,
because the way it works at Great Marlowe
is literally they're sort of pointing inwards,
if that makes sense.
So they're not splaying out as described
by one of the speakers, if that makes sense.
They are almost covering sight, but just the sight.
Could we have that picture, that slide up?
Jenny Ion - 0:31:14
That's the, it was the lighting diagram,
which is the one with the little blue lines.
I think it's about the fourth slide.
That's the one. So what you have there is the little red figures that you can't really read tell you the
intensity of illumination on the pitch but modern lighting is quite different perhaps to the old
flood lighting you're used to in that you get far less backspill so that the blue wavy lines
as say were the levels of luminance and it goes right down to one lux which is barely anything so
there's very little light spillage around so basically you end up with what
appears to be like a light bubble the pitch itself yeah yeah we have permitted
a pitch recently at Great Marlowe School which is in similar proximity to
residential properties yeah
So.
If you sit in that desk.
Was about the hours of use.
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:32:13
This, what was suggested in the amendment
looks very similar to what is happening
at Great Marlowe School, which again is again
a second, the main secondary school for Marlowe.
So how does that compare with what Great Marlowe's got?
It feels similar, but I can't remember the exact details.
I think Great Marlowe School are allowed
to use their facility until 10 o 'clock at night.
Jenny Ion - 0:32:31
Yeah, so I think there may be more restrictions on the weekend, but until I look that up then I can't say for certain
Councillor
Cllr Shade Adoh - 0:32:47
Just on the
Environmental advice
Can it be followed easy material evidence? Is it you know something that can be considered?
I know there's been adjustments that have been made up to 9 .30,
but particularly looking at the weekends,
because now we've got a bank holiday included as well.
So is this something that can be considered?
The Environmental Health Officer was satisfied with the earlier
Jenny Ion - 0:33:19
finish -up time of 6 o 'clock at the weekends.
I think initially it was proposed to be 8 o 'clock,
so it has been reduced during the course of the application.
I think that the school will depend to it or need to be able to make the facility available
for community use.
So I'm not sure whether reducing the hours further than what's suggested in the conditions
to you would be acceptable to the school.
I think we also have to think about the consistency of decision -making.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:33:47
So if other schools have had decisions where they have been able to open on bank holidays,
it would be very difficult not to. We have to be consistent.
Councillor Raja. Thank you, Chairman. There was a couple of
Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja - 0:34:08
things. One thing was that Councillor Walsh said about being notified of the planning
application and holidays. I know what the answer is, but for the public who are watching,
it would be good to get an answer on that one. And the other one was?
Sorry could you just repeat that I didn't quite catch what you said.
Councillor Walsh said something about you know about the planning application
going out on the holiday period and residents not coming weren't able to
come back or something on those grounds so that's one. The other thing was I know
one of the residents has said about the sand pollution and they weren't very
happy with the survey or the report so if you could highlight something on that
as well please.
Okay, so the application was submitted
at the beginning of July 2024,
Jenny Ion - 0:34:55
but because there were some issues with it,
it wasn't validated until later in July.
So the consultations would have been carried out
over the school holidays.
Obviously the information on the application
was in the public domain on the council's website.
I guess if people wanted to contact the applicant directly,
then that would have been an issue for them.
But normally, if there were queries on the application,
they could have contacted us as an authority for clarification.
And obviously the application has now been running for quite some considerable time,
so there has been time in the interim for any contact with the school.
In terms of the second point, that was the sound pollution,
Environmental Health have reviewed the noise report that's been submitted
and they were satisfied with the methodology that's been used to assess the proposal in
the noise report and therefore were satisfied that it has demonstrated that the levels of
noise and disturbance that would arise from the use of the facility are within acceptable
limits.
There's just one further point.
Somebody asked me about Great Milo School.
I have just turned up the note that I had on the hours of use condition for Great Milo School
Which is allowed to be used from 8 till 10 Mondays to Fridays and 8 till 6 on Saturdays and Sundays
But not on bank holiday and statutory holidays. So it's fairly similar to what is being suggested here
Can you also just mention about the defence because it is
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:36:38
an acoustic fence, which I think should be.
Yeah, so in addition to the fencing around the pitch
Jenny Ion - 0:36:44
and the mugger themselves, there is a four -metre high timber
fence, which will be an acoustic fence, which
would be put in the length of the pitch, which provides
some noise attenuation.
I believe Great Mile School has also had a similar fence put in
as part of their proposals.
So the noise report has been taken that into account
when they have done their modelling.
Thank you. Any technical questions?
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:37:12
Thank you, Councillor Hines.
Cllr Matthew Hind - 0:37:18
If the traffic is going to use new road, there is a gated road
that closes at 10 o 'clock in the evening. So in reality, the
all -weather pitch will have to finish and the mugger will have
to finish it in half nine to enable everybody to access do you think that's
that that's the reality of it because otherwise people will then have to go
through Merton the the Merton Road to get out so I'm guessing the gate is
closed automatically or at 10 o 'clock I think that that's a fair assessment
Jenny Ion - 0:37:55
obviously you know if they were permitted longer hours and they needed
the gate to be kept open longer they'd have to apply to vary that particular
condition as I understand it it is looked manually by somebody on site and
to prevent people getting out but yeah
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:38:13
if there's no other technical questions then we'll go to site visit members of
which there aren't many
Cllr Matthew Hind - 0:38:25
Councillor Hines. Seeing the facilities that are at the school
currently, OK, we saw it on a bad day, it rained like crazy so it didn't look brilliant.
You just know that this new facility is going to be fantastic for both the school and Princess
Risbrough in general. It's going to make a huge difference.
The fact that people can walk from the changing rooms 30 yards rather than currently there,
most people have to walk about 200 yards to get there, which again, you know, is all issues
of management and safety and everything else, it would be a nightmare.
So I just think it's fantastic for the school.
That's what I came away looking at what was there currently and what will be there.
Just a brilliant change.
Councillor West, do you want to comment or you?
Yeah.
Cllr Michael West - 0:39:23
So, can I invite other members if they would like to ask questions or debate?
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:39:29
Councillor Collingwood?
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:39:35
The only debate we would be having is about the two suggested amendments about which is
more deliverable and enforceable.
we were trying to work out our own minds
which way round it was
because we were conscious about that piece
about the 10 o 'clock road closing, et cetera.
I can tell you, having seen what Great Marlows now
had put back in as their new mugger, if that makes sense,
I've got any of my fellow councillors
to come to Marlow and see it,
compared to what we have already,
which is a standard existing old style one,
it's pretty open and a bit not great.
The new one is absolutely much more contained,
much more environmentally friendly towards the neighbours
because again, back onto one of my council estates,
one of my housing estates, literally like that.
But again, they put the acoustic fencing in,
put everything else in,
actually has no impact on my residence at all.
So compared to the old style one,
I've got also on the same site,
which does have sort of light spill on the rest of it.
The new version is so much better than the old one.
I would commend this because it looks like
almost a copy paste of what we've had done recently
at Great Marlowe.
The only query I've got in terms of the
if the officers could give us a sort of suggestion
which is the, of those two options of timings
is the most easily enforceable
to make sure that there's no sort of cheekiness
you know, misuse of the restrictions
if you see what I mean, to make sure
which is I think why in Marlowe we had 10 o 'clock
because you know, that's fine
it was just, everyone's gonna be using it anyway
so therefore it doesn't matter
because it won't impact anybody.
So explain how we met that choice, if you see what I mean,
in terms of those two choices of hours of operation.
Thank you.
I think in terms of it being clear
as to what's allowed on what day,
the option where you were to say 2130
Jenny Ion - 0:41:22
on Tuesdays and Thursdays is much clearer.
However, that does allow greater use than the alternative,
which only allows operation up to 2130
on 10 days of the year.
We have I have drafted the condition which requires a record to be kept off those days so that we can
Request that to ensure that there is compliance
I have had that checked as whether that's an acceptable condition
From legal and they have agreed that that is reasonable and enforceable
so
That does give you the two options and then you have to consider which you you think is reasonable because obviously as officers
we've recommended the 10 o 'clock is acceptable,
but if you feel that it's necessary
to make it acceptable to reduce the hours
to either of those suggested options, those are before you.
So it's what's acceptable to residents
as well as what's acceptable for the school,
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:42:20
and the school have agreed both, either or,
and it's probably a decision that you might want to discuss.
Councillor Roger.
Thank you.
Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja - 0:42:32
Listening to Councillor Collingwood and Mrs. Irons,
Regarding the sound and lighting pollution. It's been explained very well. I don't think we could
Say anything against this planning application. The only thing I would say was
The two things were Clifford Road and Merton Road, but you've explained that as well. So
I'll be in probably favour of the planning application
Council Edo
Just coming to
Cllr Shade Adoh - 0:43:05
I'm monitoring is always an issue or concern for me and I like the fact that
it's already put into place about you know how you monitor having requesting
times in usage would that be would that be specific to six months three months
of usage or how would you ensure that happens so the condition that's drafted
Jenny Ion - 0:43:36
says that it should be in any calendar year, no more than 10 occasions.
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:43:47
Were you referring to how it's monitored? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it would
have to be someone reporting that the facility is being used too often. And then enforcement
would ask for the record.
Is that correct?
Yeah.
So it's not something that would happen all the time.
We wouldn't, as a matter of course,
send a monitoring officer to cheque
how many days they've used.
It's probably a public concern that would be raised,
which then it would be treated like normal enforcement.
It would be checked to see if they had used it
too many times.
So are we saying that that would be like every three months
Cllr Shade Adoh - 0:44:23
or is it only when a complaint is raised?
Jenny Ion - 0:44:30
We're saying that if there was a complaint that there was a potential breach of the condition,
then the enforcement service would be the service which would investigate the potential
breach and they would then be able to request the written record of the usage to cheque whether
the usage had exceeded the ten occasions per year that had been agreed to.
It's a planning condition, so that's how it works.
Sorry, Councillor Collingwood.
Cllr Alex Collingwood - 0:45:00
Thank you, I think that was a very helpful way of doing it.
I would imagine that the residents and councillors
will soon tell us if there's any breach
in terms of number of times.
So to me, having had that explanation now,
I think the second option, where you go eight till nine,
Monday to Friday, and they have 10 opportunities
during the whole of the calendar year,
that is quite a clear and forceful methodology.
and I think that also then means for the residence is not too late I'll see my
will go to 10 so if you're gonna come have a game football at 10 o 'clock you
can do you know but it I think that is a fair reasonable way of forward if that
makes sense in terms of the second option clearly the residents in the
castles can then say it clearly says a breach then we can enforce you know and
I'm sure the school will be good neighbours to the rest of the residents I
I think that's the way you'd go forward
with that second option.
So I'm happy to, unless everyone wants to discuss it,
but happy to propose.
We'd go for, obviously, recommendation with that amendment.
And I think that Mrs. Irons has said there's a second,
I think it'll pace to relevant wording,
with that relevant wording that then makes that enforceable.
Okay, well, would anybody like to propose that motion?
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:46:14
Councillor Collingwood, a seconder?
I continue.
Councillor Hynde, as a site visit member.
Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja - 0:46:21
Those in favour, please raise your hand.
Cllr Matthew Hind - 0:46:25
You know the motion.
So the motion.
I mean abstention.
I abstain, I never do.
So the motion's carried.
So it brings us to agenda item five,
Cllr Mark Turner - 0:46:42
date of the next meeting which is Wednesday,
the 21st of January 20 26 at 6 30 and item agenda agenda item 6 which is

5 Date and Time of Next Meeting

basically a show of hands for anybody who will come on the site visit on the
Tuesday the 20th of January any other site visit council Collinwood are you
Thank you very much everybody.
The meeting is closed.