Lower Lightwood Farm, Lightwood Lane, Cotheridge, Worcestershire, WR6 5LT

Planning appeal 3361738 at Lower Lightwood Farm, Lightwood Lane, Cotheridge, Worcestershire, WR6 5LT (Malvern Hills District Council) was dismissed on 4 August 2025 by Inspector Brennan P, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the site is an appropriate location for the proposed development having regard to the ability of future occupants to access services by means other than private motor vehicles.

Conversion of existing commercial buildings into 2 no. dwellinghouses with associated landscaping works

Authority: Malvern Hills District Council
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Change of use
Inspector: Brennan P
Postcode: WR6 5LT

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the site is an appropriate location for the proposed development having regard to the ability of future occupants to access services by means other than private motor vehicles

What decided it

The site's isolation from services and the reliance of future occupants on private motor vehicles for access, combined with the unsafe and impracticable nature of walking and cycling alternatives, renders the location inappropriate for residential development despite the shortfall in housing land supply.

The adverse impacts of granting permission, arising from conflict with sustainable location policies and travel-related environmental harm, significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of brownfield reuse and minor housing delivery in the context of a housing shortfall.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies: Policy SWDP2Policy SWDP4Policy SWDP1Policy P2
National Planning Policy Framework: Paragraph 84Paragraph 11

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.

See how each was applied

The decision letter

Town Planner Pro holds this letter. The Appeals plan opens it and every other letter we hold, all of them searchable, with the main issues and what decided each case picked out. We do not show letters on the free site because they carry people’s names and addresses.

Appeals plan, £15 a month

With an account

What an account adds to this decision

36 other decided appeals within two kilometres of this site. In the app every dot opens its decision, and its letter wherever one was published, and you can draw your own site to see what has been decided around it.AllowedDismissedSplitThis decision

An appeal decision in the app, with the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out beside the letter — Every letter, there to read. We pick out the main issues, the policies and the judgments cited, so you can work through the letter faster.

Searching the full text of appeal decision letters in the app — Search inside every letter. By words or by meaning, filtered by authority, outcome, appeal type and procedure, with every locatable decision on the map and the Inspector named on each.

Start your free trial

More decisions in Malvern Hills

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

Dismissed27 October 20266013516
Frenchlands Lane, Lower Broadheath, Worcester, WR2 6QU
Dismissed22 October 20266002119
Land at (Os 7897 6938), Dunley, DY13 0TX
Allowed13 October 20266014393
The Laurels, Kerswell Green, Worcester, WR5 3PE
Dismissed9 October 20266006301
Land off Lightwood Lane, Lower Broadheath, Worcester, WR2 6RL
Dismissed8 October 20266007831
Vaughan Lodge, 192-198 Wells Road, Malvern, WR14 4HB

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.