Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Allowed11 September 20253367037

Holly Cottage , Lower Hatfield Road, Bayford, Hertford, SG13 8LA

Planning appeal 3367037 at Holly Cottage , Lower Hatfield Road, Bayford, Hertford, SG13 8LA (East Hertfordshire District Council) was allowed on 11 September 2025 by Inspector Gardner L, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: whether the proposal would be suitably located having regard to relevant development plan policies concerning the settlement hierarchy and transportation modes.

change of use and conversion of garage and stable buildings to form new dwellings, changes to fenestration and doors, provision of dormer windows, laying out of access and turning areas, car and cycle parking, bin storage and gardens, landscape planting and ancillary development

Authority
East Hertfordshire District Council
Appeal type
minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Written Representations
Development
residential · Change of use
Inspector
Gardner L
Postcode
SG13 8LA

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • whether the proposal would be suitably located having regard to relevant development plan policies concerning the settlement hierarchy and transportation modes
  • the effect of the proposal on the provision of equestrian facilities
  • the effect of the proposal on flood risk
  • the effect of the proposal on highway safety, with particular regard to pedestrians
  • the effect of the proposal on foul drainage

What decided it

The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, combined with the modest harm from the identified conflicts with the development plan, meant the presumption in favour of sustainable development under NPPF paragraph 11(d) applied and permission should be granted.

The adverse effects of poor accessibility and loss of domestic equestrian facilities were not considered so harmful as to significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of housing delivery on previously developed land with sustainability benefits from building reuse, ecological enhancements, and landscaping, assessed against the Framework taken as a whole.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy DPS2Policy TRA1Policy TRA2Policy CFLR6Policy WAT1Policy WAT2Policy WAT4Policy EQ4Policy NE1
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 11Paragraph 84Paragraph 154

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

44 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 East Hertfordshire District Council

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

  1. Allowed28 October 20266008487
    The Ranch House, Amwell Hill, Great Amwell, Ware, SG12 9QZ
  2. Allowed24 September 20266008238
    Land North of A507, West of A10, Buntingford, Buntingford, SG9 9ER
  3. Allowed6 August 20266009753
    25 Fordwich Hill, Hertford, SG14 2BG
  4. Dismissed29 June 20263368768
    Land at B1004/ Bourne Lane, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, SG10 6ER
  5. Dismissed29 June 20266005780
    Barn Field, Hay Street, Dassels, SG11 2RP

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.

In the app this decision sits on the map beside every appeal around it, with its letter to read and the main issues, policies and judgments cited picked out.