Dovecote Farm Hepworth Road, , Hepworth Road, Thelnetham, , Thelnetham, , Suffolk, IP22 1JH

conversion of existing buildings into one dwelling and one Holiday Letting Unit

Authority: West Suffolk
Appeal type: minor · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: residential · Minor Dwellings
Inspector: Phillips A

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Relevant policies for the location of housing in line with the Council's spatial strategy and its accessibility to services and/or facilities
Effect on the character and appearance of the local area
Provision of external amenity space for future occupants
Provision of parking

What decided it

The significant harm to the amenity of future occupants from lack of privacy and parking, combined with poor accessibility to services and emergency services concerns, demonstrably outweighs the limited benefits of the proposal when assessed against the Framework as a whole.

The adverse impacts of lack of privacy, lack of parking, poor accessibility to services and emergency services access concerns significantly and demonstrably outweigh the limited benefits of supporting rural communities, tipping decisively against the proposal despite the absence of a five-year housing land supply.

Framework references: 11, 78, 117

Plan policies cited: Policy LP26, Policy LP27, Policy LP16, Policy LP9, Policy LP44

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.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.