®Planning appeal decision
Land to South of Marsh Farm, Fobbing, SS17 9JW
the installation of a renewable led energy generation station, comprising ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays and battery-based electricity storage containers together with substation, inverter/transformers stations, site access, internal access tracks, security measures, access gates, other ancillary infrastructure, grid connection cable, landscaping and biodiversity enhancements
- Authority
- Thurrock Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Woolcock J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The effects of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the area.
- The effects of the proposed development on heritage assets.
- Whether the harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm resulting from the proposal, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the proposal.
What decided it
The substantial weight attributable to the renewable energy generation, energy security and biodiversity/economic benefits clearly outweighed the Green Belt, landscape and heritage harm, establishing very special circumstances.
Substantial weight given to Green Belt harm, significant weight to character/appearance harm and slight weight to overall heritage harm were clearly outweighed by substantial weight given to renewable energy/energy security benefits together with moderate weight for biodiversity benefits and slight/moderate weight for economic benefits, so very special circumstances were found to exist.
Framework references: 156, 180, 205, 208, 209, 157, 88, 163, 153
Plan policies cited: Policy PMD6, Policy CSSP4, Policy CSTP23, Policy PMD2, Policy CSTP24, Policy PMD4, Policy CSTP27, Policy PMD15, Policy PMD9, Policy PMD10, Policy CSTP26, Policy CSTP19, Policy PMD7, Policy PMD1, Policy CSTP21
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.