Home Wood, Slugwash Lane, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TD

Part retrospective planning application for the continuation and completion of a new build barn of the same design as that approved under Class Q permission DM/19/4993

Authority: Mid Sussex District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Sylvester G

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the proposed dwelling would be in an appropriate location for new housing, with particular regard to accessibility to local facilities and services, and the effect on local character

What decided it

The proposed dwelling would be an isolated home in the countryside with future occupiers heavily reliant on private vehicles, conflicting with the development plan's locational strategy and the Framework's objectives for sustainable communities, and no material considerations of sufficient weight outweigh this conflict.

The small benefits of housing supply, economic benefits during construction, and renewable energy features were outweighed by the conflict with the development plan as a whole, the creation of an isolated dwelling in the countryside, harm to rural character, and the unsustainability of the location for non-car travel.

Framework references: 11, 73, 79, 80, 105, 110, 130, 174

Plan policies cited: Policy DP6, Policy DP12, Policy DP15, Policy DP21, Policy DP39, Policy 1

Judgments cited: Braintree District Council v SSCLG Greyread Ltd & Granville Developments Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 610; City and Country Bramshill Ltd v SSHCLG [2021] EWCA Civ 320

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.

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