Hawthorn, Nodes Lane, Magham Down, HAILSHAM, East Sussex, BN27 1PW

the erection of one new dwelling

Authority: Wealden District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Knight A

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the site is in a suitable location for residential development, having regard to the development plan and accessibility to services and facilities

What decided it

The adverse impacts of locating residential development in an unsustainable location with poor accessibility to services and facilities, which would undermine the housing distribution strategy and encourage private motor car reliance, significantly and demonstrably outweigh the modest benefits of delivering one additional dwelling despite the Council's housing land supply shortfall.

The modest benefits of housing delivery and economic benefits were outweighed by the significant harm from the unsustainable location, poor accessibility, and conflict with the development plan strategy for housing distribution and sustainable transport promotion, such that the presumption in favour of sustainable development did not apply.

Framework references: 225, 159, 8

Plan policies cited: Policy GD2, Policy DC17, Policy WCS6, Policy EN1, Policy SPO7, Policy SPO8, Policy WCS14

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.