®Planning appeal decision
Land South of Roxton Road, Great Barford, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK44 3LR
Planning appeal 3349671 at Land South of Roxton Road, Great Barford, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK44 3LR (Bedford Borough Council) was allowed on 26 February 2025 by Inspector Hobbs J, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the site is suitable for residential development, having regard to its location, the proposed land use and the amount of development.
Permission in Principle for the Residential Development of land for five Self and Custom Build Dwellings at land to the south of Roxton Road, Great Barford
- Authority
- Bedford Borough Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Minor Dwellings
- Inspector
- Hobbs J
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the site is suitable for residential development, having regard to its location, the proposed land use and the amount of development
What decided it
The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing land (3.46 years) and the spatial strategy's failure to meet demand for self-build and custom housebuilding triggered the presumption in favour of sustainable development, whose benefits outweighed the conflict with the development plan.
The conflict with the spatial strategy and development plan policies, given significant weight, was outweighed by the significant benefits of providing 5 self-build dwellings to meet an unmet statutory duty and contributing to the Council's housing supply shortfall, applying the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- LP Policy 3SLP Policy 4SLP Policy 7SLP Policy 28SLP Policy 29LP Policy 30LP Policy 59SNP Policy H1NP Policy D1Policy AD1 of the Allocations and Designations Local Plan, July 2013
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 11Paragraph 14Paragraph 49Paragraph 232
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 appliedThe 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.
With an account
What an account adds to this decision
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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.