Town Planner Pro
Free trial
Search appeal decisions

Planning appeal decision

Dismissed9 July 20266002071

Land off Lower Rochester Road, Wainscott, Rochester, ME3 8EH

Planning appeal 6002071 at Land off Lower Rochester Road, Wainscott, Rochester, ME3 8EH (Medway) was dismissed on 9 July 2026 by Inspector Nick Fagan, following an inquiry. The main issue, as the Inspector framed it: Whether the proposed development and its associated improvements would be in a location which is or would be made sustainable (i.e. reasonably accessible to relevant local services by sustainable transport modes).

Outline application for demolition of existing buildings, the erection up to 800 dwellings (Use Class C3), primary school, mixed use local centre (Use Class E and F2), retirement living (Use Class C2), associated works and public open space. Approval is sought for the principal means of vehicular access from Lower Rochester Road and Higham Road, with all other matters reserved

Authority
Medway
Appeal type
major · Planning
Procedure
Inquiry
Development
residential
Inspector
Nick Fagan
Postcode
ME3 8EH

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

  • Whether the proposed development and its associated improvements would be in a location which is or would be made sustainable (i.e. reasonably accessible to relevant local services by sustainable transport modes).
  • Whether it would result in unacceptable landscape and visual impacts including on the Dillywood Lane Area of Local Landscape Importance (ALLI), the designated Rochester Road/Dillywood Lane/Common Lane important rural lanes, and on users of local Public Rights of Way (PROWs).
  • The tilted planning balance in National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) paragraph 11 d) ii), involving an assessment of the development's benefits against any harms, including the loss of Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land and agreed conflict with the Development Plan (DP) and any conflict and the weight to be given to the Emerging Plan (EP).

What decided it

The development's failure to be reasonably accessible to local services by sustainable transport modes, which alone was significant enough to outweigh the identified planning benefits.

The substantial harms from inadequate sustainable transport accessibility and landscape/visual impact significantly and demonstrably outweighed the substantial benefits of housing, affordable housing and care home delivery, so the tilted balance favoured refusal.

What the Inspector cited

Development plan policies
Policy S1Policy S2Policy T3Policy T4Policy T6Policy BNE25Policy BNE34Policy BNE47Policy BNE48Policy H11EP Policy S2: Conservation and Enhancement of the Natural EnvironmentEP Policy S4: Landscape Protection and Enhancement
National Planning Policy Framework
Paragraph 11Paragraph 16Paragraph 49Paragraph 50Paragraph 51Paragraph 109Paragraph 110Paragraph 115Paragraph 117Paragraph 135Paragraph 187Paragraph 215Paragraph 216
Judgments
Telford & Wrekin v SSCLG & Gladman [2016] EWHC 3073; Daventry

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

40 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 Medway

The authority’s record since 2016 · every decision in 2026

  1. Dismissed26 October 20266014100
    130 High Street, Gillingham, ME7 1AS
  2. Dismissed9 October 20266009269
    Land Between Cumberland Road and Medway Road, Gillingham, ME7 1NH
  3. Dismissed2 October 20266009769
    Street Record, Callis Way, Parkwood, Gillingham, ME8 9PA
  4. Dismissed21 September 20266004691
    Land South of Woodview House, Perry Hill, Cliffe Woods, ME3 7TX
  5. Dismissed6 August 20266007660
    180-182 Luton Road, Chatham, ME4 5BP

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.