®Planning appeal decision
Land off Inverbeg Drive, Bolton, BL2 6NA
described on the application form as ‘The construction of 88 residential dwellings, including access from Inverbeg Drive, construction of roads and footways, landscaping, open space, drainage and other associated works
- Authority
- Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Coyne C
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the effect of the proposed development on highway safety
- whether the proposed development would provide an equivalent or better provision of recreational land than what is currently provided
- the effect of the proposed development on biodiversity
What decided it
The substantial social and economic benefits of providing 94 affordable dwellings to address the Council's significant housing land supply shortfall, combined with the mitigation of recreational land loss through equivalent or better replacement provision, outweighed the significant biodiversity harm when assessed against the tilted balance in paragraph 11 of the Framework.
The significant net loss of biodiversity (66%) was outweighed by the substantial social and economic benefits of housing delivery and affordable housing provision, together with moderate benefits from meeting unmet recreational need in an adjacent authority, applying the tilted balance under paragraph 11 of the Framework due to the Council's inability to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply.
Framework references: 11, 99, 111, 174
Plan policies cited: Policy P5, Policy S1, Policy CG1, Policy SC1
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.