LAND BETWEEN HOPE COTTAGE AND DUNBOYNE, GRAYS ROAD WESTERHAM HILL, KENT, TN16 2JB

two detached private dwellings

Authority: London Borough of Bromley
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Douglas L

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the Framework and any relevant development plan policies
The effect of the proposal on the openness of the Green Belt
The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area, with specific regard to the North Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
The effect of the proposal on biodiversity
If the proposal would constitute inappropriate development, whether the 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 allow the appeal

What decided it

The proposal constitutes inappropriate development in the Green Belt that would harm its openness and the landscape of the AONB, and no very special circumstances exist to outweigh these harms despite the Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

The Framework's Green Belt and AONB protections provide a clear reason for refusing the development notwithstanding the Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply; the harms to the Green Belt and AONB are not outweighed by housing delivery benefits.

Framework references: 11, 138, 147, 148, 149, 176

Plan policies cited: Policy 49, Policy 69, Policy 76

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.