®Planning appeal decision
Suffolk House, 5-9 Grosvenor Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 8EP
Planning appeal 3219062 at Suffolk House, 5-9 Grosvenor Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 8EP (Southend-on-Sea City Council) was allowed on 3 August 2021 by Inspector Willows P, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the Council's decision to refuse to issue an LDC was well founded.
Use of Parts of Building as Fourteen Self-Contained Flats (Class C3)’. Appeal B: APP/D1590/C/18/3219062 Suffolk House, 5-9 Grosvenor Road, Westcliff-on Sea, Essex SS0 8EP
- Authority
- Southend-on-Sea City Council
- Appeal type
- enforcement · Enforcement Notice
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Willows P
- Postcode
- SS0 8EP
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the Council's decision to refuse to issue an LDC was well founded
- Whether the flats provide satisfactory living accommodation for their occupiers, having regard to local and national policies relating to residential space standards and amenity space provision
- Whether any harm arising from the development is outweighed by other considerations, including any need for the housing it provides
What decided it
The severe shortfall in the Council's housing land supply engaged the tilted balance, and the benefits of housing delivery (including the 14 already-lawful units) outweighed the conflict with the internal space standards of Policy DM8.
the conflict with Policy DM8 and the development plan as a whole was outweighed by the lawful status of 14 units, the pressing need for housing including single-bedroom flats given a severe shortfall in housing land supply, and safeguards secured through conditions and the unilateral undertaking, such that the adverse impacts did not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits under the tilted balance
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- Policy DM8Policy DM7Policy CP4Policy DM1
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 11
- Judgments
- Burdle & Williams v SSE & New Forest DC [1972] 1 WLR 1207; Johnston v Secretary of State for the Environment (1974) 28P & CR 424 (CA); Manchester City Council v SSCLG [2021] EWHC 858 (Admin)
How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.
See how each was appliedThe decision letter
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The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.