®Planning appeal decision
National Car Hub, Land situated to the South and East of Back Lane, Aldridge, WALSALL, WS9 0LS
the material change of use of the land from an agricultural use to a use for the parking and storage of vehicles, together with equipment, parts, materials, and other paraphernalia associated with a car sales operation and vehicle maintenance, including but not limited to scrap and trailers and the associated erection of fencing and lighting columns, siting of a container, the forming of bunding and laying of hard standings
- Authority
- Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
- Appeal type
- enforcement · Enforcement Notice
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- employment-industrial · Change of use
- Inspector
- Braithwaite J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the use of the land is inappropriate development in the Green Belt, requiring assessment of whether the use harms the openness of the area and/or compromises the purposes of including land in the Green Belt
- The effect of the change of use of the land on the character and appearance of the area
- Whether the harm caused by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations such that very special circumstances exist
What decided it
The material change of use to vehicle parking is inappropriate development in the Green Belt that harms openness and countryside character, with no very special circumstances to justify permission.
Framework references: 143, 154, 187, 153
Plan policies cited: GB1 of the Walsall Site Allocation Document (WSAD), GP2 of the Walsall Unitary Development Plan (UDP)
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.