®Planning appeal decision
land adjacent to The Grange, Smallway, Congresbury, BS49 5AA
erection of 3 no. open market linked dwelling houses and 1 no. self-build detached dwelling house
- Authority
- North Somerset Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Minor Dwellings
- Inspector
- Page L
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the site is in an appropriate location for housing
- the effects of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area
- the effects of the proposal on highway safety
What decided it
The proposal fails to achieve the required 120m visibility splay under the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and cannot deliver this on land outside the appellant's control, creating unacceptable highway safety impacts that, combined with harm to the countryside and strategic gap, significantly and demonstrably outweigh the limited housing benefits.
The limited benefits of delivering four dwellings and associated socio-economic benefits were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the cumulative harm from eroding the countryside, harming the strategic gap and landscape setting, and creating unacceptable highway safety impacts, such that the presumption in favour of sustainable development was not engaged.
Framework references: 11, 111
Plan policies cited: Policy CS14, Policy CS33, Policy CS19, Policy SA7, Policy DM24, Policy H1 of the Congresbury Neighbourhood Plan 2019
Judgments cited: Wainhomes (South West) Holdings Ltd v SSCLG [2013] EWHC 597 (Admin)
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.