Land at Cranes Lane, Kelvedon, Essex, CO5 9AX

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the development would preserve the Grade II listed buildings known as Crabb's Farmhouse and Crabb's Barn or their setting (or significance).
• Whether prospective occupiers would enjoy satisfactory living conditions, having particular regard to: the need for ventilation/cooling in some dwellings as a result of noise mitigation systems required to ameliorate noise from the nearby A12 and railway; and noise and disturbance arising from the use of Crabb's Farm/Barn.
• The effect of the development on the Blackwater Estuary and Dengie Special Protection Areas (SPA) and Ramsar sites, and/or Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (the habitat sites).
• Whether any other considerations would outweigh any harm resulting from the above.

What decided it

The support for additional housing delivery under Kelvedon Neighbourhood Plan Policy HO1, given no significant impact on the natural environment, was found to outweigh the conflicts with the heritage and settlement boundary policies of the development plan.

The public benefits (housing including affordable housing, employment floorspace, support for services, open space) did not outweigh the less than substantial harm to the setting of the listed buildings, but the great weight attributable to Neighbourhood Plan Policy HO1's support for additional housing outweighed the resulting conflict with SSSP Policy SP7 and Local Plan Policies LPP1, LPP47, LPP52 and LPP57, so the proposal was found to comply with the development plan as a whole.