Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Dismissed16 September 20253367232

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

Planning appeal 3367232 at Dovecote Farm Hepworth Road, , Hepworth Road, Thelnetham, , Thelnetham, , Suffolk, IP22 1JH (West Suffolk) was dismissed on 16 September 2025 by Inspector Phillips A, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Relevant policies for the location of housing in line with the Council's spatial strategy and its accessibility to services and/or facilities.

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
Postcode
IP22 1JH

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.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy LP26Policy LP27Policy LP16Policy LP9Policy LP44
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 11Paragraph 78Paragraph 117

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

6 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 West Suffolk

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

  1. Dismissed2 July 20266006355
    Laurel Farm, Sandy Drove, Lakenheath, IP27 9GT
  2. Allowed29 June 20266007055
    All Saints Hotel, The Street, Fornham St Genevieve, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 6JQ
  3. Allowed17 June 20266004217
    The Coal Yard, Wilde Street, Beck Row, IP28 8BL
  4. Dismissed11 March 20266002107
    85 Kings Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3DS
  5. Allowed12 December 20253371739
    Beech Hedge Farm Weston Ditch, West Row, Bury St. Edmunds, IP28 8RE

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.