®Planning appeal decision
Land at Stablefield, Church Road, Whyteleafe, Surrey, CR3 0AR
Without planning permission, the substantial demolition of an outbuilding and subsequent construction of a toilet block; the substantial demolition of two further outbuildings and the subsequent construction of an extension to existing building, including a new roof on that building with associated fenestration alterations, with the subsequent material change of use of the land to a religious/community centre (mixed use of F.1 and F.2 use-class)
- Authority
- Tandridge District Council
- Appeal type
- enforcement · Enforcement Notice
- Procedure
- Hearing
- Development
- community-institutional · Change of use
- Inspector
- Hocking P
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether or not the development is inappropriate development within the Green Belt for the purposes of the National Planning Policy Framework (the Framework)
- the effect of the development on highway safety
- whether the development is harmful to the character and appearance of the area
- the effect of the development on ancient woodland and associated biodiversity
- the effect of the development on neighbouring living conditions
- If the development is inappropriate, whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations, so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify the development
What decided it
The operational development (new building and extension) constituted inappropriate development in the Green Belt causing substantial harm, compounded by unresolved highway safety and character/appearance harms, with no very special circumstances to outweigh this cumulative harm.
The substantial harm from inappropriate Green Belt development together with considerable harm to highway safety and character and appearance was not outweighed by the moderate weight afforded to the charity's use of the site, so very special circumstances did not exist.
Framework references: 142, 143, 154, 155
Plan policies cited: Policy DP10, Policy DP7, Policy DP19, Policy CSP 12, Policy CSP 18, Policy CSP 21, Policy CSP 17
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.