Wendover Lodge, Church Street, WELWYN, Hertfordshire, AL6 9LR

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area including protected trees, the Welwyn Conservation Area (WCA), the setting of listed buildings, and a non-designated heritage asset
• the effect of the development on highway safety
• the effect of the development on surface water drainage
• whether the development should be required to provide contributions towards affordable housing and local infrastructure and if so, whether there is a suitable mechanism in place to secure that
• the effect of the development on archaeology
• the effect of the development on biodiversity

What decided it

The harm to the Welwyn Conservation Area and character and appearance of the area, combined with highway safety concerns and failure to provide affordable housing, outweighed the benefit of 14 additional homes in a context of housing delivery shortfall.

The significant benefit of providing 14 homes to address housing delivery shortfall and the modest benefit of 10% biodiversity net gain and visual improvements to an overgrown site were outweighed by the great weight given to the conservation of the heritage asset and the harm to character and appearance, highway safety and affordable housing provision.