®Planning appeal decision
Former Fordbridge Service Station, Kingston Road, Ashford, TW15 3SE
construction of building for the storage of cars with ancillary workshop in association with car sales
- Authority
- Spelthorne Borough Council
- Appeal type
- minor · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- employment-industrial · Minor retail and services
- Inspector
- Coles C
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- Whether the appeal site would be grey belt land with particular reference to whether flooding provides a strong reason for refusing the proposed development
- Whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework and relevant development plan policies
- The effect of the proposal on the openness of the Green Belt
- If the proposal is found to be inappropriate development, whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness and any other harm is clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the 'very special circumstances' required to justify the development
What decided it
The proposal fails to demonstrate very special circumstances because the harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness and harm to openness, combined with conflict with flood risk policy due to the absence of a sequential test, is not clearly outweighed by the modest economic benefits claimed.
Framework references: 11, 110, 115, 142, 143, 154, 155, 156, 157, 175, 176
Plan policies cited: Policy LO1 of the Spelthorne Core Strategy and Policies Development Plan Document (2009), Policy GB1 of the Spelthorne Borough Local Plan 2001
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.