®Planning appeal decision
Land at Ufton Court Farm , Sittingbourne , ME9 8HP
construction of up to 290 dwellings, the formation of a new means of access onto Minterne Avenue, new footpaths and cycle routes, the creation of new surface water drainage, new landscaping and habitat creation, ground works and other infrastructure
- Authority
- Swale Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Spencer D
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The extent of the deliverable housing land supply.
- The effect on the character and appearance of the surrounding area including whether the appeal location is a valued landscape.
- What is the appropriate provision of affordable housing.
- Other matters in the planning balance.
What decided it
The shortfall in the Council's deliverable five-year housing land supply, which rendered the spatial strategy policies out of date and meant the substantial housing (including affordable housing) benefits were not significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the identified harms.
The adverse impacts of granting permission (limited/moderate weight harms to landscape, ICLG, BMV land and built-up area boundary policies) did not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits (significant weight to market housing, substantial weight to 30% affordable housing, moderate weight to economic benefits, limited weight to environmental benefits), so permission was granted under the tilted balance.
Framework references: 11, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 63, 77, 115, 135, 180, 226
Plan policies cited: Policy ST2, Policy DM24, Policy CP4, Policy DM29, Policy DM8, Policy ST1, Policy ST3, Policy ST5, Policy DM31, Policy DM25, Policy DM6, Policy CP6, Policy CP7, Policy DM28, Policy Regen 2 ST4
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.