Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Allowed11 February 20253346061

Parcel Of Land North Of Mansion House Farm, Bedmond Road, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, WD5 0QE

Planning appeal 3346061 at Parcel Of Land North Of Mansion House Farm, Bedmond Road, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, WD5 0QE (Three Rivers District Council) was allowed on 11 February 2025 by Inspector Hatfield T, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the proposal would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

demolition and clearance of existing buildings and hardstandings to allow for the construction of a data centre of up to 84,000 sqm (GEA) delivered across 2no. buildings, engineering operations and earthworks to create development platforms, site wide landscaping and the creation of a country park. The data centre buildings include ancillary offices, internal plant and equipment and emergency back-up generators. Other works include an ancillary innovation, education and training centre of up to 300 sqm, internal roads and footpaths, cycle and car parking, hard and soft landscaping, security perimeter fence, lighting, drainage, substation, and other associated works and infrastructure”. Summary of Recommendation: That planning permission for the development be granted subject to conditions

Authority
Three Rivers District Council
Appeal type
other · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Inquiry
Development
employment-industrial · Unknown
Inspector
Hatfield T

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • Whether the proposal would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt
  • The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area
  • Whether any harm arising from the proposal would be outweighed by other considerations so as to justify the development

What decided it

The classification of Parcel 1 as grey belt land (not strongly contributing to Green Belt purposes a, b or d) meant the development was not inappropriate in the Green Belt, and the substantial benefits of meeting an identified and pressing need for data centre capacity, combined with a lack of suitable alternative sites, were found to outweigh the identified landscape and heritage harms.

The significant weight attached to data centre need, lack of alternative sites, scale of investment/economic benefits and the country park outweighed the significant landscape and visual harm, great weight given to heritage harm, and limited harm from loss of arable land, tipping the balance in favour of allowing the appeal.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy CP1Policy CP6Policy CP8Policy CP9Policy CP10Policy CP11Policy CP12Policy PSP2Policy DM2Policy DM3Policy DM7
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 49Paragraph 50Paragraph 57Paragraph 58Paragraph 85Paragraph 86Paragraph 87Paragraph 110Paragraph 115Paragraph 143Paragraph 151Paragraph 153Paragraph 154Paragraph 155Paragraph 174Paragraph 180Paragraph 187Paragraph 212Paragraph 215

How the Inspector dealt with each one is set out in the app, in order: the development plan, national policy, housing land supply, other considerations and the planning balance, beside the letter.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

69 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision
An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter
Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.
Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app
Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.
Start your free trial

More decisions in Three Rivers

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

  1. Allowed12 October 20266002930
    Land to the Rear of, 76 and 78 Church Lane, Sarratt, WD3 6HL
  2. Allowed24 September 20266010198
    Rusper, Nottingham Road, Heronsgate, WD3 5DN
  3. Dismissed12 August 20266006827
    Land Adjacent to Sarratt Lane, Loudwater, WD3 4AS
  4. Dismissed30 June 20266004957
    Land Adjoining Westwood End, Bucks Hill, Kings Langley, WD4 9AS
  5. Notice varied and upheld11 June 20263352724
    Black Horse Pub, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, WD3 5EG

The main issues, what decided it, the planning balance and the policies and judgments listed as cited are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro and are our summary, not the Inspector’s words; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.