Marley House Marley Lane, BATTLE, East Sussex, TN33 0RB

conversion of outbuilding (Former Squash court) into a dwelling house with gardens and use of existing parking area and access

Authority: Rother District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Holden S

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The effect of the proposal on highway safety

What decided it

The proposed access would fail to meet DMRB visibility splay standards by a significant margin (0.4m in X distance and 40m in Y distance) on a rural road with observed speeds exceeding 40mph and a medium crash risk, creating unacceptable hazards for occupants and other road users.

The benefits of providing an additional family home and preserving the listed building's setting (moderate weight) were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the serious and significant shortcoming of unacceptable highway and pedestrian safety risks, such that the presumption in favour of sustainable development did not apply.

Framework references: 11, 110, 111

Plan policies cited: Policy RC6(ii) of the Rother Local Plan Core Strategy

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.

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