56, Austen Paths, Stevenage, SG2 0NR

‘change of use from a 6-bedroom House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) Class C4, to a 7-bedroom HMO (Sui Generis), 3 x car parking spaces; 8-bicycle parking spaces, and location of 7-bin storage facilities to the rear driveway.’

Authority: Stevenage Borough Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Cowley R

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The effect of the proposal on highway safety

What decided it

The proposal fails to comply with the car parking standards in the SPD and would worsen acute parking problems in the area, thereby harming highway safety and conflicting with Policy IT5, with no material considerations outweighing this conflict.

The modest contribution to housing delivery was significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the identified adverse impacts on highway safety when assessed against the policies in the Framework taken as a whole.

Framework references: 11

Plan policies cited: Policy IT5, Stevenage Borough Local Plan 2011-2031, Parking Provision and Sustainable Transport Supplementary Planning Document Adopted 2020

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.