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Allowed27 May 20253355570

Willow Farm, Lughorse Lane, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6EB

Planning appeal 3355570 at Willow Farm, Lughorse Lane, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6EB (Maidstone Borough Council) was allowed on 27 May 2025 by Inspector Pattison B, following a hearing. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether there is an essential need for a full-time rural worker to live at the appeal site in the countryside.

Retrospective siting of a temporary rural workers dwelling for a temporary period of three years

Authority
Maidstone Borough Council
Appeal type
minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Hearing
Development
agricultural · Minor Dwellings
Inspector
Pattison B
Postcode
ME18 6EB

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • Whether there is an essential need for a full-time rural worker to live at the appeal site in the countryside
  • The effect of the appeal scheme on the character and appearance of the area, including the setting of the Greensand Ridge Landscape of Local Value

What decided it

The substantial weight attributed to the educational and therapeutic benefits of the care farm for children with disabilities outweighed the moderate harm to the spatial strategy caused by the unauthorised location of the temporary dwelling.

the considerable benefits of the care farm to children with disabilities and educational needs, and the risk of the enterprise ceasing without the dwelling, outweighed the moderate harm to the spatial strategy arising from the temporary dwelling's location outside the settlement boundary

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
LPRCD3LPRSP9LPRSP15LPRQD4
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 84Paragraph 187Paragraph 98

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.

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The decision letter

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More decisions in Maidstone Borough Council

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2025

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  5. Allowed26 October 20266010539
    Land Rear Of 58 Church Street, Boughton Monchelsea, Maidstone, ME17 4HN

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.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.