®Planning appeal decision
The Avenue, Welwyn, AL6 0PW
Planning appeal 3323564 at The Avenue, Welwyn, AL6 0PW (Welwyn Hatfield Council) was dismissed on 16 February 2024 by Inspector Nunn M, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the development represents inappropriate development within the Green Belt.
outline planning application for up to 24 dwellings with all matters reserved except for means of access
- Authority
- Welwyn Hatfield Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Minor Dwellings
- Inspector
- Nunn M
- Postcode
- AL6 0PW
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the development represents inappropriate development within the Green Belt
- the effect of the proposal on the Green Belt, including openness
- the effect on the character and appearance of the area, including the landscape
- whether there is safe and suitable access to the development for all users
- whether the site is locationally sustainable
- whether drainage and flood risk are satisfactorily addressed
- whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify development within the Green Belt
What decided it
The absence of very special circumstances to outweigh the substantial Green Belt harm (inappropriateness, loss of openness and conflict with safeguarding the countryside from encroachment).
The benefits of market and affordable housing, economic and social benefits, and reasonable accessibility did not clearly outweigh the definitional Green Belt harm, the loss of openness, the conflict with safeguarding the countryside from encroachment, the harm to character and appearance, and the unresolved flood risk harm, so very special circumstances were not demonstrated.
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- Policy SP1Policy SADM1Policy SP4Policy SP7Policy SP9Policy SP13Policy SADM14Policy SADM16Policy SADM34Policy SADM2Policy SP3Policy SADM7Policy SADM11
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 11Paragraph 57Paragraph 60Paragraph 76Paragraph 115Paragraph 143Paragraph 152Paragraph 153Paragraph 154Paragraph 173
- Judgments
- R (Liverpool Open and Green Spaces Community Interest Company) v Liverpool City Council [2020] EWCA Civ 81; Hook v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] EWCA 486; R (Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)) v North Yorkshire County Council [2020] UKSC 3
How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.
See how each was appliedThe decision letter
Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.
With an account
What an account adds to this decision
More decisions in Welwyn Hatfield
The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2024
- Dismissed5 October 202660098922A Whitehill, Welwyn, AL6 9AF
- Dismissed9 September 20266010292Rose Cottage, Kentish Lane, Hatfield, AL9 6JP
- Dismissed28 May 2026600320349 The Ridgeway, Cuffley, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 4BD
- Dismissed27 May 20266003536East Lodge, Judge's Hill, Northaw, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 4NL
- Planning permission granted6 March 2026335467120 Ayot Green, Ayot St. Peter, Welwyn, AL6 9AB
The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.