13 Cobham Road, WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA, SS0 8EG

change of use from hotel (Class C1) to 15-bedroom HMO (Sui Generis)

Authority: Southend-on-Sea City Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Francis L

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The effect of the appeal proposal on the supply of visitor accommodation

What decided it

The loss of visitor accommodation in a location specifically identified in the development plan as a Key Area for retaining such accommodation, combined with insufficient evidence that the site is no longer viable for that use, outweighs the moderate housing benefits even under the tilted balance.

The considerable harm to visitor accommodation supply in a protected Key Area significantly and demonstrably outweighed the moderate benefits of additional housing, even accounting for the Council's housing land supply shortfall and the Framework's objective to boost housing supply.

Framework references: 11, 232

Plan policies cited: Policy DM12, Policy KP1, Policy KP2, Policy CP4, Policy CP8

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.