®Planning appeal decision
Land Adjacent to The Willows, Bryants Lane, Woodham Mortimer, Essex, CM9 6TB
Planning appeal 3283976 at Land Adjacent to The Willows, Bryants Lane, Woodham Mortimer, Essex, CM9 6TB (Maldon District Council) was dismissed on 20 January 2023 by Inspector Spencer D, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the proposal would provide a sustainable location for housing.
1 No. dwelling with carport (outline planning permission with all matters reserved)
- Authority
- Maldon District Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Minor Dwellings
- Inspector
- Spencer D
- Postcode
- CM9 6TB
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the proposal would provide a sustainable location for housing
- The effect of the proposed dwelling on the character and appearance of the surrounding rural area
- The effect of the proposal on biodiversity
What decided it
The absence of a precise and enforceable mechanism to secure RAMS mitigation for likely significant adverse effects on protected habitat sites on the Essex coast, which cannot be mitigated and therefore provides a clear reason for refusal under NPPF paragraph 180.
The modest social and very limited economic benefits of one dwelling were substantially outweighed by significant harm to rural character and appearance, significant weight given to conflict with out-of-date but still valid sustainability policies, substantial weight to conflict with character policies, and moderate harm from biodiversity uncertainty, with the unmitigated harm to protected habitats providing a clear basis for refusal.
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- Policy S8Policy S1Policy D1Policy H4Policy I1
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 79Paragraph 130Paragraph 56Paragraph 180Paragraph 174Paragraph 11Paragraph 181
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 appliedThe 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.
With an account
What an account adds to this decision
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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.