®Planning appeal decision
79 Westridge Road, SOUTHAMPTON, SO17 2HN
without planning permission, the material change of use of the land to five self-contained flats (‘the unauthorised development’)
- Authority
- Southampton City Council
- Appeal type
- enforcement · Enforcement Notice
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Change of use
- Inspector
- Hawkins S
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether there are suitable living conditions for the existing and future occupiers of the flats, having regard to provision of outdoor amenity space and provision of facilities for storing refuse/recycling and bicycles
- Whether the flats contribute to a mixed and balanced community, having regard to the effect on the supply of family homes
- The effect on the character of the locality
What decided it
The adverse impacts on living conditions, mixed and balanced community provision, and unmitigated harm to protected habitats sites outweigh the moderate benefits of housing supply, and the Framework presumption does not apply where there is an adverse effect on the integrity of habitats sites.
The moderate benefits of housing supply and fire safety improvements were outweighed by the significant harms to living conditions, loss of family homes, and unmitigated adverse impacts on protected habitats, resulting in conflict with the Development Plan that could not be overcome by other considerations.
Plan policies cited: Policy SDP1, Policy CS13, Policy CS16, Policy CS22, Policy SDP7, Policy SDP9, Policy H7
Judgments cited: Welwyn Hatfield BC v DLUHC [2022] EWHC 3175 (Admin)
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.