Land North of Barking Road, Needham Market, IP6 8EZ

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the proposal is in an appropriate location having regard to the impacts of flood risk and whether future occupiers would be safe from the impacts of flooding
• Whether the proposal would have an acceptable impact on highway safety
• Whether occupants of the proposed development would have reasonable access to local employment, shops and services and whether the proposal makes appropriate provision for travel by sustainable transport modes
• Whether future residents would enjoy acceptable levels of residential amenity, having regard to the proximity of Needham Market Football Club
• The effects of the proposal on landscape character and the appearance of the surrounding area

What decided it

The proposal's failure to pass the flood risk Sequential Test (and by extension the Exception Test), given the site access lay within Flood Zone 3 with no flood modelling undertaken, was determinative on its own.

Moderate weight in favour from housing delivery, affordable housing, economic and ecological benefits, and limited weight from mitigation-related benefits (CIL, open space, education), did not outweigh harms from failed flood risk tests, highway safety, residential amenity impacts, landscape/character harm and agricultural land loss, so the proposal conflicted with the development plan as a whole and was dismissed.