®Planning appeal decision
Land at SX 571 979 North of Brandize Cottage , Road From Meadowbright To Folly Gate Cross, Folly Gate , EX20 3AQ
10 new houses (6 affordable, 4 open market)
- Authority
- West Devon Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Nicholls H
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- whether the proposal would make a positive contribution to local housing needs
- whether the site area would be appropriately divided between the open market and affordable housing tenures
- whether the design of the scheme would be adequate, having regard to layout, appearance, landscaping and distinguishability of tenures
- the effect of the proposal on trees
What decided it
The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply (2.53 years) engaged the tilted balance under paragraph 11(d) of the Framework, and the benefits of housing delivery outweighed the policy conflicts and identified harms.
The benefits of delivering 10 dwellings of mixed tenures, including economic benefits from construction and occupation, and the avoidance of further delay to housing supply, outweighed the degree of conflict with Policy TTV27 regarding land take allocation and Policy DEV28 regarding tree proximity, particularly in the context of a 50% shortfall in the Council's five-year housing land supply.
Framework references: 11, 131
Plan policies cited: Policy DEV8, Policy TTV27, Policy STP1, Policy DEV10, Policy DEV20, Policy DEV23, Policy DEV28
Judgments cited: Holborn Studios Ltd v The Council of the London Borough of Hackney [2017] EWHC 2823
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.