®Planning appeal decision
Land at Oakleigh Farm Industrial Estate, Codicote Road, Welwyn, AL6 9TY
demolition of all existing buildings and structures. Change of use of western section to residential, comprising the erection of seven new detached dwellings with associated detached garages, parking and amenity areas. Change of use of eastern section to paddock. Upgrade existing access road
- Authority
- Welwyn Hatfield Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Osgathorp C
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework and any relevant development plan policies
- the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area
- whether a planning obligation for financial contributions towards local infrastructure and services is necessary to make the proposal acceptable in planning terms
What decided it
The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply (2.34 years) rendered the most important policies out-of-date, and the benefits of providing seven dwellings on previously developed land, combined with the finding that the proposal would not be inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would maintain character and appearance, outweighed the limited-weight conflict with employment policy.
The significant shortfall in housing land supply and the benefits of housing delivery and efficient use of previously developed land outweighed the loss of employment floorspace and limited-weight conflict with Policy SADM10 of the emerging Local Plan, with no other considerations including the Framework provisions outweighing the accordance with the Development Plan.
Framework references: 11, 60, 69, 147, 149, 174, 12
Plan policies cited: Policy GBSP1, Policy D1, Policy D2, Policy IM2, Policy H2, Policy SADM1, Policy SADM10, Policy SADM34, Policy SP13
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.