Land adjacent to 455 Manchester Road, Blackrod, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL6 5SR

permission in principle for the erection of up to 2 dwellings

Authority: Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Hughes L

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the site is suitable for residential development, having regard to its location, the proposed land use, and the amount of development

What decided it

The substantial and clearly unoutweighed harm to Green Belt openness and the failure to meet the limited infilling exception meant that very special circumstances were not demonstrated to justify inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

The substantial harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness and other harm to openness and character and appearance was not clearly outweighed by the minor benefits of housing supply and self-build provision, such that very special circumstances were not established.

Framework references: 11, 70, 142, 152, 154

Plan policies cited: PfE Policy JP-G9, Bolton Allocations Plan Policy CG7AP, Bolton Core Strategy Policy OA1, PfE Policy JP-P1, PfE Policy JP-G1, Blackrod Neighbourhood Development Plan Policy DES1

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.