®Planning appeal decision
Land West of Honiley Road (A4177), Honiley, Kenilworth
Installation of a solar farm and battery storage facility with associated infrastructure
- Authority
- Warwick District Council
- Appeal type
- other · Called In Planning Application
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- utilities-energy · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Parker C
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the proposal is inappropriate development in the Green Belt and its effect on openness
- Effect on Green Belt purposes
- Character and appearance, including landscape
- Effect on heritage assets
- Whether the benefits of the scheme amount to Very Special Circumstances sufficient to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and any other harm
What decided it
The substantial weight attributed to the renewable energy and biodiversity net gain benefits, taken together with other material considerations, clearly outweighed the substantial harm to the Green Belt, establishing Very Special Circumstances justifying the grant of permission.
The substantial benefits of renewable energy generation and biodiversity net gain, together with moderate and limited weight benefits, clearly outweighed the substantial harm to the Green Belt, the great weight heritage harm and the limited landscape harm, so that Very Special Circumstances existed and permission was granted.
Framework references: 48, 55, 56, 143, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160, 163, 180, 186, 205, 208
Plan policies cited: Policy DS5, Policy DS18, Policy NE4, Policy CC2, Policy BE1, Policy HE4, Policy FW1, Policy SC0, Policy TR1, Policy BE3, Policy NE1, Policy NE2, Policy NE3, Policy HS1, Policy NE5
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.