Land at Bradley Hall Farm, Grappenhall Lane , Grappenhall, Warrington

the construction of up to 287,909m² (3,099,025ft2) (gross internal) of employment floorspace (Use Class B8 and B1(a) offices) including change of use of Bradley Hall Farmhouse to B1 (a) office use (335m² (3,600ft²)) and associated servicing and infrastructure including car parking and vehicle and pedestrian circulation, alteration of existing access road into site including works to the M6 J20 dumbbell roundabouts and realignment of the existing A50 junction, noise mitigation, earthworks to create development platforms and bunds, landscaping including buffers, creation of drainage features, electrical substation, pumping station, and ecological works

Authority: Warrington Borough Council
Appeal type: other · Called In Planning Application
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: employment-industrial · Other Major Developments
Inspector: Catchpole R

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Green Belt considerations
Landscape
Heritage (designated and non-designated heritage assets)
Highways
Air Quality
Suitability of the Site

What decided it

The substantial harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, loss of openness and encroachment was not clearly outweighed by the other considerations, so Very Special Circumstances did not exist.

Significant economic, social and environmental benefits were weighed against substantial Green Belt harm, significant landscape harm, great weight heritage harm and limited weight loss of BMV land; the balance tipped against the proposal because the harms were not clearly outweighed, notwithstanding that the lesser heritage balance under paragraph 208 favoured the proposal.

Framework references: 152, 153, 142, 143, 205, 208, 209, 115, 116, 192, 56, 57

Plan policies cited: GB1(10), DC1, DC2, DEV4, ENV8, AT-D1, AT-D2, INF1(5), DC1(2)(i), ENV8(3)

Judgments cited: Compton Parish Council v SSHCLG [2019] EWHC 3242

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.