®Planning appeal decision
42 North street, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1PT
change of use of the vacant office building to two flats and erection of rear external staircase and secure cycle storage
- Authority
- Havant Borough Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Harrington S
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- The effect of the proposal on the vitality and vibrancy of the town centre
- The effect of the proposal on flood risk
What decided it
The proposal would result in the loss of a commercial premises without demonstrated unsuitability for employment use, harming town centre vitality, and would lack a required flood risk assessment despite the site being at identified future flood risk.
The modest housing supply benefit and economic benefits from conversion were outweighed by the harmful loss of employment land to the town centre and the unmitigated flood risk, with the flood risk issue engaging the exception to the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
Framework references: 11, 59
Plan policies cited: Policy DM3, Policy CS4, Policy CS15
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.