Searches Farm, Searches Lane, Bedmond, St Albans, WD5 0SB

erection of an agricultural building

Authority: St Albans City Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: agricultural · Minor general industry/storage/warehousing
Inspector: Savage K

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the proposal amounts to inappropriate development in the Green Belt
The effect on the openness of the Green Belt
The effect on the heritage significance of nearby listed buildings, through effect on their settings
If the development is inappropriate, whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify it

What decided it

The building is in commercial use with no substantive evidence of agricultural use or genuine intention to use it for agriculture, constituting inappropriate development in the Green Belt that causes significant harm to openness and heritage settings which cannot be outweighed by the speculative and uncertain benefits of a proposed egg production enterprise.

Framework references: 149, 150, 213, 11, 202

Plan policies cited: Policy 1, Policy 86

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

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.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.