Nash House, Dickinson Square, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9GT

conversion of basement and community use to create 2 x new flats

Authority: Dacorum Borough 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 re-use of the community space as a flat would safeguard social infrastructure, having regard to Development Plan policy.
Whether suitable living conditions would be provided for future occupiers of the ground floor flat, having regard to outlook, privacy and noise and disturbance.

What decided it

The proposal fails to safeguard social infrastructure and would not provide suitable living conditions for future occupiers, conflicting with the Development Plan taken as a whole, and the negative consequences outweigh the modest housing benefit.

the modest contribution to housing delivery and small-scale economic benefits were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the negative social and environmental consequences of loss of community facility and inadequate living conditions for future occupiers

Framework references: 11

Plan policies cited: Policy CS23 of the Dacorum Core Strategy, Saved Policy 19 of the Dacorum Borough Local Plan

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.

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