Land South of Weycock Cottage, Four Elms, Milley Road, Waltham St Lawrence, Reading, RG10 0JR

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the development proposed would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt, having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework and any relevant development plan policies
• The effect on the openness of the Green Belt
• Whether sufficient detail has been provided to allow the proposal to be assessed in terms of its effect on protected species and biodiversity, climate change, trees, and whether it would be likely to result in an increased risk of flooding
• Whether any harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the proposal

What decided it

The proposal constitutes inappropriate development in the Green Belt that would harm openness, combined with unsafe access and insufficient technical information on protected species and climate change, which together are not clearly outweighed by the moderate benefit of delivering a single dwelling in a context of housing land supply shortfall.

The benefits of delivering a single house in a context of housing land supply shortfall (4 years) attracted moderate weight, but this did not clearly outweigh the substantial harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, inevitable loss of openness, unsafe and unsuitable access, and lack of information on protected species and climate change mitigation.