®Planning appeal decision
Former Leamside Equestrian Centre, Pithouse Lane, Leamside, DH4 6QJ
engineering operations to create a football centre incorporating the creation of 20no grass pitches (Use Class F2), demolition of exist ing stable block, creation of new building to provide changing facilities, creation of car parking and widening of existing access track
- Authority
- Durham County Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- leisure-sport · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Heywood S
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the proposal is inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to relevant policies of the County Durham Plan 2020 and the National Planning Policy Framework
- Whether the location of the development would be in accordance with local and national policy aimed at directing development to the most sustainable locations
- Whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify the proposal
What decided it
The substantial harm to Green Belt openness and inappropriateness of the development, combined with the location's poor sustainability credentials, are not clearly outweighed by the sporting and social benefits, as the Government attaches great importance to Green Belts and a very high bar must be reached for inappropriate development to be allowed.
Framework references: 142, 154, 155, 89, 108
Plan policies cited: Policy 20, Policy 10p, Policy 21, Policy 29
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.