250423 Planning Minute
North Ayrshire Council · 21 May 2025
Back to Planning Committee — 21 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Planning Committee 23 April 2025 At a Meeting of the Planning Committee of North Ayrshire Council at 2.00 p.m. involving a combination of participation by remote electronic means and physical attendance within the Council Chambers, Irvine. Present (Physical Participation) Robert Foster, Cameron Inglis, Stewart Ferguson and Chloé Robertson. Present (Remote Participation) Scott Davidson, Davina McTiernan and Ian Murdoch In Attendance A. Finlayson, Chief Planning Officer; and I. Davies, Senior Development Management Officer (Communities and Housing); C. Leslie, Solicitor (Legal Services); S. Wilson, Committee Services Officer; and C. Cheung, Digital, Media and Marketing Analyst (Communications) (Democratic Services) (Corporate Services). Chair Councillor Foster in the Chair. Apologies Amanda Kerr, Jim Montgomerie and Ronnie Stalker. 1. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest by Members in terms of Standing Order 11 and Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for Councillors. Councillor Murdoch made a transparency statement in relation to Agenda Item 3 (24/00588/PPM : Hunterston Construction Yard, Fairlie, North Ayrshire) as a member of the Hunterston Parc Liaison Committee. Having applied the objective test, Councillor Murdoch assessed that it was not an interest in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 2. Minutes The Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 March 2025 were confirmed and signed in accordance with Paragraph 7 (1) of Schedule 7 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. 3. 24/00588/PPM : Hunterston Construction Yard, Fairlie, North Ayrshire Submitted a report by the Chief Planning Officer seeking planning permission for the creation of a RAS (Recirculated Aquaculture System) Complex to include all buildings, access roads, parking, landscaping and other required infrastructure. The Committee noted no deputation requests were received for this application.
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Officers responded to Members’ questions on various aspects of the report and Councillor Inglis, seconded by Councillor Ferguson proposed a motion to approve planning permission subject to the conditions detailed in the report. Councillor Davidson proposed an amendment that a condition be applied for the applicant to provide further information on the quantity of fish, the process of recycling and cleaning of water and management of waste from the tanks. The Chief Planning Officer confirmed that these were not material planning considerations and not within the remit of the Planning Committee to apply such conditions and therefore deemed that this was not a competent amendment. There being no further amendments, planning permission was granted subject to the following conditions: 1. Prior to the commencement of the development, a Construction Environment Management Plan (CEMP) shall be provided to North Ayrshire Council, as Planning Authority, for written approval. The CEMP shall include details of flood resilient construction methods and preclude the use of the C26 and local unclassified roads, the B780/B781 and A78 through Fairlie as a route for construction vehicles. Thereafter all works are to be carried out in accordance with any CEMP as may be approved, to the satisfaction of the Council, as Planning Authority. 2. Prior to commencement of the development an independent ecological clerk of works (ECoW) shall be appointed. The contact details, credentials and terms of reference shall be submitted to the Council, as Planning Authority, for approval. For the avoidance of doubt, the ECoW will audit the CEMP, and the construction practices contained therein. The ECoW will have the authority to halt any works not in accordance with the CEMP and report such incidences to the Council, as Planning Authority. 3. Prior to the commencement of the development, a Habitat Management Plan (HMP) shall be submitted to North Ayrshire Council, as Planning Authority, for written approval. The HMP will take cognisance of the outline management plan set out in the Preliminary Ecological Appraisal dated July 2024, by Atlantic Ecology, and submitted as part of this application, and provide details of the steps to be taken through construction and operation of the site for the management and enhancement of habitats. 4. Prior to the commencement of the development, details of landscaping shall be submitted to North Ayrshire Council, as Planning Authority, for written approval. The details shall be based on draft drawings LO1 Rev C and LO2 Rev C, submitted as part of this application, and will include details of all soft landscaping including grasscrete or similar paving areas and maintenance details. Any details as may be approved shall be carried out prior to the occupation of the complex or in the first planting season following completion of the buildings, whichever is soonest. Any landscaping which dies, becomes diseased, is removed or otherwise fails within 5 years of planting shall be reinstated in the first available planting season.
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5. That the rated noise level, as defined in BS 4142:2014+A1:2019, from the operation of the development, as defined by the approved location plan, shall not exceed the background noise level at the curtilage of any noise sensitive premises existing or consented as of the date of the permission. 4. Urgent Items There were no urgent items. The meeting ended at 2.55 p.m. The full meeting proceedings can be viewed at https://north-ayrshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/home