Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Dismissed11 December 20253373010

White House, Stockbury Valley, Stockbury, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7QD

Planning appeal 3373010 at White House, Stockbury Valley, Stockbury, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7QD (Maidstone Borough Council) was dismissed on 11 December 2025 by Inspector Smith J, by written representations. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area, with particular reference to whether it would conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Kent Downs National Landscape.

Demolition of outbuildings, removal of mobile home and removal of areas of hardstanding. Construction of seven dwellings with landscaping, car parking, garages, woodland and orchard planting and provision of open space. Alterations to vehicle access from A249 Sittingbourne Road. Retention of the White House and detached outbuilding

Authority
Maidstone Borough Council
Appeal type
major · Planning Appeal
Procedure
Written Representations
Development
residential · Major dwellings
Inspector
Smith J
Postcode
ME9 7QD

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • the effect of the proposal on the character and appearance of the area, with particular reference to whether it would conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Kent Downs National Landscape
  • the effect on highway safety

What decided it

The proposal would fail to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Kent Downs National Landscape, conflicting with the development plan as a whole, and the modest benefits of housing delivery and ecological enhancement could not overcome the great weight required to be given to landscape conservation.

the modest benefits of housing delivery, ecological enhancement and bringing previously developed land back into use were outweighed by the great weight to be attached to conserving and enhancing the landscape and scenic beauty of the Kent Downs National Landscape

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy LPRSP9Policy LPRSP15Policy LPRQD4Policy LPAHOU1Policy LPRSP10(A)Policy LPRSP14(A)Policy LPRQD2Policy LPRTRA2
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 11Paragraph 189Paragraph 190
Judgments
Holborn Studios Ltd v The Council of the London Borough of Hackney [2017] EWHC 2823 (Admin)

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

18 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 Maidstone Borough Council

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

  1. Dismissed29 October 20266010536
    21 Tasker Close, Bearsted, Maidstone, ME15 8NZ
  2. Allowed27 October 20266015190
    Little Southernden, Southernden Road, Headcorn, TN27 9LL
  3. Allowed27 October 20266011721
    Loxley House, Gravelly Bottom Road, Kingswood, Maidstone, ME17 3NT
  4. Allowed27 October 20266011076
    Little Southernden, Southernden Road, Headcorn, TN27 9LL
  5. Allowed26 October 20266010539
    Land Rear Of 58 Church Street, Boughton Monchelsea, Maidstone, ME17 4HN

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.