Units 2A and 3, Blackwater Shopping Park, Farnborough, GU14 8BL

Authority: Rushmoor Borough Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: retail · Minor retail and services
Inspector: Smith D

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the proposal would meet the sequential test for main town centre uses set out in the National Planning Policy Framework and whether it would have a significant adverse impact on the vitality and viability of Farnborough town centre.

What decided it

The sequential test was passed because the only sequentially preferable site at Solartron Retail Park was not realistically available as a Lidl store was imminently opening there, and no other suitable, available and viable town centre or edge-of-centre sites existed.

Framework references: 87, 90

Plan policies cited: Policy SP2, Policy SS2, Policy LN7, Policy IN2

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.

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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.
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