®Planning appeal decision
Land To Rear Of 33 And 35, Station Road, Smallford, AL4 0HB
outline application for up to 5 dwellings (all matters reserved except access)
- Authority
- St Albans City Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Minor Dwellings
- Inspector
- Savage K
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to relevant development plan policies, the provisions of the National Planning Policy Framework and the effect on the openness of the Green Belt
- The effect on highway safety
- If the proposal would be inappropriate development whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances necessary to justify it
What decided it
The site qualifies as grey belt land under NPPF paragraph 155 and satisfies all three criteria for non-inappropriate development, combined with the Council's inability to demonstrate five-year housing land supply, which tilted the balance decisively in favour of the proposal.
The significant benefits of housing delivery at a time when the Council cannot demonstrate sufficient supply outweighed the absence of any demonstrable adverse impacts, bringing the proposal into accordance with both the development plan and the Framework under the tilted balance of paragraph 11.
Framework references: 11, 58, 110, 115, 143, 154, 155
Plan policies cited: Policy 1 of the St Albans District Local Plan Review 1994, Policy 34 of the DLPR, Policies 1, 5, 6, 7 or 8 of the Hertfordshire Local Transport Plan 2018
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.