®Planning appeal decision
Land North of Kennel Lane, Billericay, CM12 9RR
outline planning application with all matters reserved, except means of access, for the erection of up to 200 homes; new vehicular access comprising a new arm off the Laindon Road, A176 and Noak Hill Road roundabout; realignment of Kennel Lane to join the new access and associated closure of the Kennel Lane spur; together with car parking, landscaping, surface water drainage basins and associated works
- Authority
- Basildon District Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Dillon C
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the appeal proposal is inappropriate development in the Green Belt and the effect on openness
- whether or not there is any other harm that would result from the appeal proposal
- whether or not any harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to very special circumstances required to justify the proposal
What decided it
The acute and persistent shortfall in housing and affordable housing land supply, combined with the absence of an up-to-date local plan, clearly outweighed the identified Green Belt harm to amount to very special circumstances.
The substantial harm from inappropriateness, loss of openness and impact on Green Belt purposes was clearly outweighed by the considerable-to-very-heavy weight attached to addressing the acute housing and affordable housing supply shortfall, together with other moderate benefits, so that very special circumstances existed to justify the grant of permission.
Framework references: 147, 148, 174, 180, 111, 81
Plan policies cited: Policy BAS GB1, Policy BAS BE12, Policy BAS C1, Policy BAS S5
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.