Land South of Snarlton Farm, Snarlton Lane, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 7QP

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• Whether the appeal site is an appropriate location for the proposed development
• If not, whether the proposal would result in any other harm, with particular regard to landscape and BMV
• Whether the Council can currently demonstrate a five-year housing land supply and if not, the extent of the shortfall
• Any benefits of the proposal and the weight to be given to them
• If the Council cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, whether the adverse impacts of granting planning permission significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits when assessed against the policies in the Framework taken as a whole, taking into account the recently made NP and the wording of paragraph 14

What decided it

the very significant shortfall in five-year housing land supply (2.16 years) and acute affordable housing need meant that the benefits of housing delivery, taken with the uncertainty over the JMNP2 housing requirement following withdrawal of the emerging Local Plan, were not significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the harms, including conflict with the neighbourhood plan.

significant weight given to market and affordable housing, and moderate weight to other social, economic, drainage and biodiversity benefits, were found to outweigh the limited weight given to landscape harm and conflict with out-of-date development plan policies and the moderate weight given to loss of BMV land, such that the adverse impacts of allowing development conflicting with the neighbourhood plan did not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.