Land at Gaulby Road, Billesdon, Leicester, LE7 9AF

outline application for up to 48 dwellings, including 30 custom housebuild plots and 18 affordable First Homes, with associated vehicular access, school drop off area with 40 spaces, landscaping, and drainage infrastructure (access only to be considered)

Authority: Harborough District Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Hearing
Development: residential · Major dwellings
Inspector: Savage K

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area.

What decided it

The Inspector's finding that the proposal would preserve the character and appearance of Billesdon and its landscape setting, meaning there was no conflict with the development plan taken as a whole, reinforced by the very significant weight attached to addressing the acute shortfall in self-build/custom housebuilding provision.

The very significant benefit of meeting an acute shortfall in self-build/custom housebuilding provision, together with further favourable weight for First Homes affordable housing and modest benefits from biodiversity gain, combined with an absence of identified harm to character, heritage or highway safety, led the Inspector to find the proposal accorded with the development plan as a whole and should be allowed.

Framework references: 58

Plan policies cited: Policy GD2(2)(e), Policy GD8(1)(d), Policy GD5, Policy BPr14, Policy BPr20, Policy H5, Policy H2, Policy H1, Policy BPr1, Policy BrP13, Policy GD4, Policy BPr2, HLP Policy CC4

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.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.