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Planning appeal decision

Allowed22 January 20263366031

LAND NORTH EAST AND SOUTH OF 161 WATERINGBURY ROAD , EAST MALLING , KENT, ME19 6JE

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’

Authority
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
Appeal type
major · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Inquiry
Development
residential · Major dwellings
Inspector
Davies B

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.

Framework references: 232, 212, 215, 82, 83, 84, 110, 115, 116, 98, 187, 73, 8, 57

Plan policies cited: CP1, SQ1, CP6, CP24, CP2, CP9, CP14, CP15, CP25, NE2, NE3

Judgments cited: Tate Gallery Case

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

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.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every other appeal around it, with the full reasoning summary, the letter held on file, and the case law it applies.