®Planning appeal decision
Headley Court, Epsom, KT18 6JW
reserved matters application in respect of layout, scale, external appearance of buildings, car parking and landscaping and discharge of planning conditions 3 (Materials and Surfaces), 4 (Boundary Treatments), 6 (Travel Plan), 9 (CEMP), 10 (LEMP), 13 (Site Investigations), 16 (SUDS), 17 (Soil Survey) and 19 (Tree Planting) pursuant to outline planning permission MO/2020/0185 for the demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment to comprise up to 70 residential units (Use Class C3), landscaping, car parking, access routes and other associated works
- Authority
- Mole Valley District Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Morrison J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the appeal scheme would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt
- The effect of the appeal scheme on the character and appearance of the area
- If the appeal scheme would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt, whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify it
What decided it
The site's allocation for housing in the adopted development plan combined with the extant outline planning permission for the same number of units, together with the absence of harm to character and appearance and the potential for improvement, amounted to very special circumstances that clearly outweighed the harm to Green Belt openness.
The substantial harm to Green Belt openness by reason of inappropriateness was outweighed by the very special circumstances comprising the site's housing allocation, extant outline permission, improvement to character and appearance, and the Council's prior acceptance of Green Belt effects, such that the appeal was allowed.
Framework references: 11
Plan policies cited: Policy ENV22, Policy ENV23, Policy CS13, Policy CS14, Policy ENV24
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.