Land to the south & east of the former Chimes Garden Centre, & rear of 95 Old Nazeing Road, Walhtam Abbey, EN10 6RJ

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the officer report misled the planning committee members in material matters, including the affordable housing sum, past delivery of housing, regularisation of the access road, and decontamination of the site
• Whether the Council's non-disclosure of counsel's advice amounted to unreasonable behaviour
• Whether the Council erred through the amount of weight attributed to policy compliant aspects of the development in the planning balance

What decided it

The Inspector found that even if the Council had weighted policy-compliant matters differently, it would not have changed the conclusion that very special circumstances did not clearly outweigh the identified Green Belt and other harms, so no unreasonable behaviour was established.