Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Dismissed25 March 20223276864

Gibraltar Farm, Ham Lane, Hempstead, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 3JJ

Planning appeal 3276864 at Gibraltar Farm, Ham Lane, Hempstead, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 3JJ (Medway Council) was dismissed on 25 March 2022 by Inspector Gibbons L, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the proposed access would provide a safe and suitable access for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists to and from Lordswood.

outline application (with all matters reserved except access) for the erection of up to 450 market and affordable dwellings, nursery and supporting retail space up to 85sqm, with provision of main access to Ham Lane; estate roads; cycle and pedestrian routes; residential and community open space and landscaping; new junction for Lidsing Road/Hempstead Road and realignment and widening of Lidsing Road. Off site related highway works to Westfield Sole Road, Shawstead Road, Hempstead Road, Chapel Lane, Hempstead Valley Drive, Hoath Way roundabout, Hoath Way and M2 Junction 4

Authority
Medway Council
Appeal type
major · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Inquiry
Development
residential · Major dwellings
Inspector
Gibbons L
Postcode
ME7 3JJ

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • Whether the proposed access would provide a safe and suitable access for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists to and from Lordswood.
  • The effect of proposed lighting on the ecology of the area.
  • Whether the proposed development would cause harm to the character, function and appearance of the countryside within the Capstone and Horsted Valleys Area of Local Landscape Importance (ALLI).
  • The extent to which the proposal is consistent with the development plan, and the weight to be attributed to the policies in the emerging development plan.
  • Whether any harm and/or development plan conflict arising would be outweighed by other considerations.

What decided it

Inadequate bat survey evidence meant it could not be demonstrated that the scheme would not harm bats' use of the byway as a commuting habitat, causing conflict with policies BNE37 and BNE39 that was not outweighed even under the tilted balance.

The adverse impacts of granting permission, principally the unresolved harm to bat commuting habitat and conflict with policies BNE37 and BNE39, significantly and demonstrably outweighed the benefits (including housing, affordable housing, economic benefits and landscaping/woodland management) when assessed against the Framework as a whole.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy S1Policy S2Policy BNE1Policy BNE2Policy BNE3Policy BNE8Policy BNE24Policy BNE25Policy BNE34Policy BNE35Policy BNE37Policy BNE39Policy H3Policy T1Policy T2Policy T3Policy T4Policy T6Policy T13
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 11Paragraph 74Paragraph 130Paragraph 170Paragraph 174Paragraph 180Paragraph 181Paragraph 182

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

63 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision
An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter
Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.
Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app
Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.
Start your free trial

More decisions in Medway

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2022

  1. Dismissed26 October 20266014100
    130 High Street, Gillingham, ME7 1AS
  2. Dismissed9 October 20266009269
    Land Between Cumberland Road and Medway Road, Gillingham, ME7 1NH
  3. Dismissed2 October 20266009769
    Street Record, Callis Way, Parkwood, Gillingham, ME8 9PA
  4. Dismissed21 September 20266004691
    Land South of Woodview House, Perry Hill, Cliffe Woods, ME3 7TX
  5. Dismissed6 August 20266007660
    180-182 Luton Road, Chatham, ME4 5BP

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.