Land off Bineham Lane, Yeovilton, BA22 8EX

4 self-build residential plots

Authority: Somerset Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Harrington S

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the proposal would provide a suitable location for housing, having particular regard to the development strategy for the area and accessibility of services and facilities
the effect of the proposal on the Somerset Levels and Moors Special Protection Area, Site of Special Scientific Interest and Ramsar sites

What decided it

The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, combined with the modest scale of the proposal and the public benefits of housing delivery, outweighed the conflict with development plan policies on location and accessibility.

The conflict with development plan policies on sustainable location and accessibility (modest weight given the housing land supply shortfall and limited harm from private car use) was outweighed by the benefits of four dwellings in an area with a 3.7-year housing supply, the self-build element, modest economic benefits, and the lower-end less-than-substantial heritage harm being outweighed by housing delivery benefits.

Framework references: 11

Plan policies cited: Policy SS1, Policy SS2, Policy SD1, Policy EQ4

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.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.