Admirals Farm, Heckfords Road, Great Bentley, Essex, CO7 8RS

construction of a new mixed-use building consisting of medical wellness and polyfunctional facilities (Use Class E(e), retail (Use Class E(a)) and professional services (Use Class E(c)(i)) alongside associated vehicle access, parking, and landscaping

Authority: Tendring District Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Written Representations
Development: retail · Major retail and services
Inspector: Fern L

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether or not the appeal site is an appropriate location for the proposed development and whether or not the proposal would be an appropriate scale for the settlement of Great Bentley
whether or not there is a requirement for the proposed development to protect or enhance GBVC, and if so, whether or not it would achieve this objective

What decided it

The proposal accords with the development plan as it represents an appropriate scale of development for Great Bentley as a Rural Service Centre, meets a demonstrated need for additional convenience retail provision arising from substantial recent housing growth, and does not require protection or enhancement of the village centre as it does not involve direct loss of retail units.

Framework references: 88

Plan policies cited: NEP Policy SP3, LP Policy SPL1, LP Policy SP3, LP Policy PP1, LP Policy PP2, LP Policy PP3, LP Policy PP4

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.