Land rear of The Rectory, Main Street, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, CB6 2ST

conversion and extension of existing buildings to form one dwelling and construction of four new dwellings

Authority: East Cambridgeshire District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Hearing
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Chalk M

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the appeal site is in an appropriate location for residential development, having regard to local and national policies.

What decided it

The location of three proposed dwellings outside the defined development envelope conflicted with Policy GROWTH 2's locational strategy, and this significant harm to accordance with the development plan was not outweighed by the moderate benefits of the scheme.

Significant weight attributed to the conflict with the development plan (Policy GROWTH 2) outweighed the moderate weight given to the combined benefits of housing delivery, sustainability of location and economic benefits.

Plan policies cited: Policy GROWTH 1, Policy GROWTH 2, Policy GROWTH 4, Policy GROWTH 5, Policy ENV 1, Policy ENV 2, Policy ENV 11, Policy ENV 12

Judgments cited: Corbett v Cornwall Council [2020] EWCA Civ 508

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.