Woodford Garden Village Extension, Former Woodford Aerodrome, Woodford Stockport, SK7 1NX

Authority: Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: residential · Major dwellings
Inspector: Shrigley M

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The main issue is the acceptability of education and sports infrastructure provision, in the context of paragraphs 155-159 of the National Planning Policy Framework (the Framework) regarding the Green Belt and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 2010 compliance.

What decided it

The completed planning obligation's education and sports infrastructure covenants satisfied Framework paragraph 156(b) and the CIL Regulation 122 tests, and the substantial housing and other benefits outweighed the identified less-than-substantial heritage harm under the paragraph 11(d) tilted balance.

The substantial benefits of significantly boosting housing supply, affordable housing, self-build provision, open space and biodiversity net gain, combined with compliant Golden Rules infrastructure contributions, outweighed the less than substantial heritage harm and limited-weight policy conflicts, tipping the paragraph 11(d) balance in favour of allowing the appeal.

Framework references: 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 11, 64, 193, 215

Plan policies cited: CS Policy AS-2, CS Policy SIE-2, saved policy L1.1, CS Policy H-3, CS Policy CS9, CS Policy CS10, Policy T-1, CS Policy SIE-3, Policy CS3, GBA1.2, GBA1.5, GBA1.7, CS policy CS8, CS policy SIE-1

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.