153 Pizien Well Road, Wateringbury, MAIDSTONE, ME18 5HX

retrospective application for change of use of land to residential amenity land

Authority: Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Jones R

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the development would amount to inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the Framework, relevant development plan policies, the effect on openness and the purposes of the Green Belt
If the development is inappropriate, whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the development

What decided it

The failure to meet criterion (b) of paragraph 155 of the Framework (demonstrable unmet need) combined with the substantial weight applied to Green Belt harm by reason of inappropriateness, which is not clearly outweighed by other considerations.

Framework references: 110, 115, 143, 153, 154, 155

Plan policies cited: Core Strategy Policy CP3, Core Strategy Policy CP1, Core Strategy Policy CP14

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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The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.