Land West of Church Hill and Land Off Butts Close and Schoolhouse Lane, Marnhull, Dorset, DT10 1PU

Authority: Dorset
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: residential · Other Major Developments
Inspector: Bore J

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether Marnhull is an appropriate location for housing, retail and commercial development of this scale.
The effect of the development on the character and appearance of Marnhull and on the significance of its heritage assets.

What decided it

The very serious and worsening level of identified housing and affordable housing need in Dorset, against an out-of-date spatial strategy, generated public benefits that greatly outweighed the low level of less than substantial heritage harm.

on a level (non-tilted) balance, the exceptionally important public benefits of the scheme (housing, affordable housing, retail/economic benefits, transport benefits) greatly outweighed the low level of less than substantial harm to heritage assets and any other harm

Framework references: 11, 232

Plan policies cited: Policy 2, Policy 6, Policy 8, Policy 11, Policy 12, Policy 13, Policy 5

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.