®Planning appeal decision
Land North East and South of 161 Wateringbury Road , East Malling , Kent, ME19 6JE
Planning appeal 3366031 at Land North East and South of 161 Wateringbury Road , East Malling , Kent, ME19 6JE (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council) was allowed on 22 January 2026 by Inspector Davies B, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: the setting of listed buildings, including Huntley Cottage, Ivy House Farm and Barn, and the non-designated heritage asset of Belvidere Oast.
an ‘outline application: all matters reserved except for access for the erection of up to 52 residential dwellings, including affordable housing, open space and landscaping, roads, parking, drainage and earthworks. New access to be formed from Wateringbury Road’
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Davies B
- Postcode
- ME19 6JE
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the setting of listed buildings, including Huntley Cottage, Ivy House Farm and Barn, and the non-designated heritage asset of Belvidere Oast
- East Malling Conservation Area
- the character and appearance of the landscape, including the 'historic landscape'
- highway safety
- ecology, in particular badgers
- the living conditions of the occupants of the adjacent No 51 Wateringbury Road, with particular regard to privacy and light intrusion
What decided it
The severe shortfall in housing and affordable housing land supply generated substantial benefits that outweighed the limited heritage and landscape harms identified.
The substantial benefits of housing and affordable housing delivery, together with other minor benefits, outweighed the moderate weight against the scheme from less than substantial harm to the Conservation Area and landscape/village setting, and limited weight from agricultural land loss and imperfect access for all users, such that the proposal complied with the development plan as a whole.
What the Inspector cited
- Development plan policies
- CP1SQ1CP6CP24CP2CP9CP14CP15CP25NE2NE3
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Paragraph 232Paragraph 212Paragraph 215Paragraph 82Paragraph 83Paragraph 84Paragraph 110Paragraph 115Paragraph 116Paragraph 98Paragraph 187Paragraph 73Paragraph 8Paragraph 57
- Judgments
- Tate Gallery Case
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 appliedThe 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.
With an account
What an account adds to this decision
More decisions in Tonbridge and Malling
The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2026
- Dismissed11 February 20266001182440 Land and Building East of Rose Cottage, Lunsford Lane, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 6JA
- Allowed21 January 20263371765Land Part of Mill Farm, North of 39 Mill Lane, Wateringbury, Kent, ME18 5PE
- Dismissed5 August 20253353979Ryarsh Place Farm, Birling Road, Ryarsh, Kent, ME19 5LS
- Allowed22 July 20253361029Parkview, 113 High Street, Tonbridge, TN9 1DL
- Allowed2 April 20253353896Land Opposite Grange Road at, Maidstone Road, Sevenoaks, Kent
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.