Land East of Turners Hill Road, Fellbridge, Crawley, RH10 4HH

the development of a 64 bed care home (Class C2) and associated infrastructure, including a new access road, car park and landscaped gardens

Authority: Mid Sussex District Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: community-institutional · Major dwellings
Inspector: Dawe A

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

the effect of the proposed development on the landscape character and appearance of the site and surrounding area
the effect of the proposed development in terms of the Council's spatial strategy with particular regard to sustainable travel, having regard to local and national policy
the nature and scale of the need for housing of the type proposed to meet the needs of older people

What decided it

The substantial weight given to the significant unmet need for registered care home accommodation (particularly ensuite provision) outweighed the limited landscape and sustainable travel harms and the resulting conflict with the development plan.

The benefits of the proposal, principally the substantial weight afforded to meeting a significant unmet need for registered care homes, outweighed the limited harm to landscape character and appearance and the limited shortcomings in sustainable travel, and the resulting conflict with the development plan.

Framework references: 174, 105, 62, 93, 104, 57, 11

Plan policies cited: Policy DP6, Policy DP12, Policy DP26, Policy DP21, Policy DP25, Policy DP30, Policy DP20, Policy DP19, Policy CDNP05, Policy CDNP10, Policy SA39

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.