Land and Buildings on the South East Side of Oak Road South, Hadleigh, Essex, SS7 2DD

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• whether the proposal would make adequate provision for access to the site and for the parking of vehicles, with particular regard to highway safety
• whether the proposal would provide its occupants with acceptable living conditions, with particular regard to natural light and private amenity space
• the effect of the proposal on the living conditions of the occupants of neighbouring dwellings, with particular regard to privacy
• whether the proposal would make adequate provision for waste storage

What decided it

The proposal would cause severe harm to highway safety through the risk of conflict between vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists using the inadequate existing access, which outweighs the benefits of housing delivery in circumstances where the Council cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

The significant harm to highway safety, assigned significant weight, outweighed the moderate weight given to housing delivery benefits and the limited weight of other benefits, such that the adverse impacts significantly and demonstrably outweighed the benefits when assessed against the Framework as a whole.