Low Birker Farm, Boot, Holmrook, Cumbria, CA19 1TH

Authority: Lake District
Appeal type: enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: other · Other minor developments
Inspector: Whitfield J

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area

What decided it

The substantial size and scale of the building, appearing as a dominant and obtrusive element within the landscape of the Lake District National Park and World Heritage Site, with no public benefits to justify the harm to landscape character and heritage significance.

The less than substantial harm to the World Heritage Site was balanced against the public benefits of the development, but no public benefits were advanced by the appellant, resulting in the refusal of permission.

Framework references: 176, 202

Plan policies cited: Lake District National Park Local Plan 2020-2035 Policy 1, Lake District National Park Local Plan 2020-2035 Policy 5, Lake District National Park Local Plan 2020-2035 Policy 6, Lake District National Park Local Plan 2020-2035 Policy 7

Judgments cited: Brutus and Cozens [1973] AC854; Dyer v Dorset CC [1988] 3 WLR 213; Burford v SSCLG & Test Valley BC [2017] EWHC 1493 (Admin); Sinclair-Lockhart's Trustees v Central Land Board [1950] 1 P&CR 195; Methuen-Campbell v Walters [1979] 1 QB 525; HM Attorney-General ex rel Sutcliffe & Rouse & Hughes v Calderdale BC [1983] JPL 310; Skerritts of Nottingham Ltd v SSETR (No. 1) [2000] EWCA Civ 60, [2001] JPL 1025; Challenge Fencing Ltd v SSCLG & Elmbridge BC [2019] EWHC 553; R (oao Sumption) v Greenwich LBC [2007] EWHC 2276 (Admin)

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.