Mayflower Barn, Wellhouse Farm, Eling Hermitage, THATCHAM, RG18 9UH

Engineering operation to create a new pond

Authority: West Berkshire District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: leisure-sport · Other minor developments
Inspector: Conde L

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the appeal site would provide a suitable location for the proposed development, having regard to the local development strategy
The effects of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the area, which includes the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The effect of the proposed development on biodiversity
The effect of proposed development on the setting of nearby listed buildings at Wellhouse Farm

What decided it

The proposal would extend residential curtilage in the open countryside contrary to Policy C8, which restricts such extensions to justified exceptions, and would domesticate a rural area within an AONB with harmful visual impact.

Framework references: 176, 199, 200

Plan policies cited: Policy C8, Policy ADPP1, Policy C1, Policy ADPP5, Policy CS14, Policy CS19, Policy CS17

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.