®Planning appeal decision
Chelford House , Coldharbour Lane, HARPENDEN, AL5 4UN
the redevelopment including the demolition of the former Chelford House to a 63-bed care home (C2 Use Class), with amendments to access, parking, amenity space and associated infrastructure
- Authority
- St Albans City Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Hearing
- Development
- community-institutional · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Parsons J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether or not a non-B class use would be justified for the appeal premises
- The living conditions of the residents of the care home, having regard to outside amenity space provision, outlook, noise and disturbance
- The viability of neighbouring employment uses
- Whether adequate capacity exists for public utility connections
What decided it
The urgent and significant unmet need for care home/elderly housing provision, combined with the Council's inability to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply, outweighed the conflict with local employment protection policies.
The significant benefits of housing and elderly care provision, economic and employment benefits, and the reduced weight attached to conflict with employment policies outweighed the loss of the employment site, with the tilted balance under paragraph 11(d)(ii) applied and adverse impacts not significantly and demonstrably outweighing the benefits.
Framework references: 187, 81, 60, 11, 57
Plan policies cited: LP Policy 20, NP Policy ER2, LP Policy 69, LP Policy 70, NP Policy SI11, LP Policy 143B, NP Policy T3, LP Policy 7, NP Policy H6, LP Policy 62, NP Policy H8
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.