Pulmer Water Caravan Site, St Albans Road, Codicote, Hertfordshire, SG4 8SP

Authority: North Hertfordshire District Council
Appeal type: other · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Hearing
Development: caravan-gypsy · Unknown
Inspector: Sylvester G

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the development would be inappropriate in the Green Belt having regard to any relevant development plan policies and the National Planning Policy Framework ("the Framework").
The effect of the development on the openness and purposes of the Green Belt.
Whether the future occupants of the appeal site would be within a reasonable distance of local services and facilities.

What decided it

The unmet, immediate need of the gypsy and traveller occupants for culturally appropriate accommodation, with no reasonably available alternative, together with the human rights and equality implications of refusal, were found to amount to very special circumstances outweighing the Green Belt harm.

the substantial weight attached to the harm to the Green Belt (inappropriateness, loss of openness and encroachment) was clearly outweighed by the cumulative significant weight of other considerations (unmet accommodation need, site suitability, personal circumstances and human rights, PSED), amounting to very special circumstances justifying the development

Framework references: 154, 155, 110

Plan policies cited: Policy SP5, NHLP Policy CD6, NHLP Policy HS7

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.