Land At 722 Kenilworth Road and Land Adjacent To Harper Fields Care Home, Balsall Common, CV7 7SR

a hybrid application: full permission for 95 dwellings with associated access, parking and landscape; and outline application for 5 self-build plots, with access discharged

Authority: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: residential · Major dwellings
Inspector: Heywood S

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The impact of the development on the openness and purposes of the Green Belt.
Its impact on the character and appearance of the area.
The transport implications of the development.
Whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to provide the necessary very special circumstances.

What decided it

The severe and unresolved shortfall in housing land supply, combined with the substantial affordable housing benefit, clearly outweighed the limited Green Belt harm, establishing very special circumstances.

The substantial weight given to Green Belt harm (inappropriateness plus limited harm to openness and purposes) was clearly outweighed by the substantial weight given to housing delivery, significant weight to affordable housing, and further benefits, so that very special circumstances were found to exist.

Framework references: 115, 156, 158

Plan policies cited: Policy P15, Policy BE.2, Policy P8, Policy P7, Policy BE.6, Policy P20, Policy P4, Policy P10, Policy P17

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.