27 Clifton Road, West Sussex, Littlehampton, BN17 5TE

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• the suitability of the ground floor and the first floor of the premises for the residential accommodation proposed having regard to flood risk and mitigation measures
• the adequacy of the outside amenity space provision for occupiers of the proposed first floor residential accommodation
• local housing need
• the planning balances with respect to the proposals' benefits including housing provision and any shortfalls

What decided it

For Appeal B, the unacceptable risk to life from flooding on the ground floor with no safe refuge decided the appeal; for Appeal A, the acceptable (insignificant) flood risk on the first floor combined with the housing benefits in a context of a housing land supply shortfall decided the appeal.

For the ground floor, the significant flood risk harm and conflict with Policy W DM2 outweighed the benefits of additional housing, engaging the Footnote 7 exception to the tilted balance and leading to dismissal; for the first floor, the housing benefits and sustainable location outweighed the insignificant flood risk and minor amenity space shortfall, and the proposal was allowed under the tilted balance.