®Planning appeal decision
Land at Little Bushey Lane, Bushey, WD23 4SE
residential development (up to 310 units) with access from Little Bushey Lane, and land reserved for primary school, community facilities and mobility hub (Class E) along with car parking, drainage and earthworks to facilitate drainage, open space and all ancillary and enabling works. (Outline Application with Appearance, Landscaping, Layout and Scale Reserved)
- Authority
- Hertsmere Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Gilbert J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The effect of the proposed development on the openness and purposes of the Green Belt
- The effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the area
- Whether the proposed development would be in a suitable location with regard to local and national policies relating to flood risk
- Whether any harm to the Green Belt and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify the proposed development
What decided it
The very special circumstances relied upon did not clearly outweigh the combined substantial Green Belt harm, significant landscape harm and very substantial flood-risk harm (failure of the sequential test), so very special circumstances were not established.
The very substantial weight given to market and affordable housing and other benefits did not clearly outweigh the substantial Green Belt harm, significant harm to character and appearance, and very substantial flood risk harm, so the balance tipped against the proposal and the tilted balance in paragraph 11(d) was overcome by footnote 7 policies.
Framework references: 8, 11, 60, 74, 81, 126, 137, 138, 147, 148, 159, 162, 174, 180
Plan policies cited: Policy SP1, Policy SP2, Policy CS1, Policy CS2, Policy CS3, Policy CS4, Policy CS12, Policy CS13, Policy CS16, Policy CS17, Policy CS18, Policy CS19, Policy CS21, Policy SADM11, Policy SADM13, Policy SADM14, Policy SADM15, Policy SADM16, Policy SADM22, Policy SADM26, Policy SADM40
Judgments cited: Gallagher Homes Ltd v Solihull MBC [2014] EWCA Civ 1610; Hallam Land Management Ltd v SSCLG and Eastleigh Borough Council [2018] EWCA Civ 1808; SSCLG & Others v Redhill Aerodrome Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 1386; Monkhill Ltd v SSHCLG & Waverley Borough Council [2019] EWHC 1993 (Admin)
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.