Land South Of New Acre Stables , Wolverhampton Road, Penkridge, Staffordshire, ST19 5PA

Authority: South Staffordshire District Council
Appeal type: enforcement · Enforcement Notice
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: caravan-gypsy · Change of use
Inspector: Allen M

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the development is inappropriate development in the Green Belt, and the effect on the openness of the Green Belt
Whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the proposal

What decided it

The availability of an alternative, lawfully authorised pitch on the adjoining temporarily-permitted site meant the personal circumstances of the occupier and her children carried only limited weight, insufficient to clearly outweigh the substantial harm to the Green Belt.

Substantial weight to Green Belt harm (inappropriateness and limited harm to openness) plus limited weight to intentional unauthorised development outweighed the moderate weight given to unmet pitch need/policy failure and the limited weight given to personal circumstances/best interests of the children, so very special circumstances were not established.

Framework references: 138

Plan policies cited: Policy GB1, Policy H6

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.