Land East Of Holywell Primary School, Forge Lane, Upchurch, ME9 7AD

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• whether the development would be acceptably located with regard to the Council's settlement strategy
• the effect of the development on the character and appearance of the area
• whether there is an appropriate mechanism to secure affordable housing on site
• whether the development would result in the loss of Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land

What decided it

The proposal's conflict with the settlement strategy in policy ST 3 and the substantial harm to character and appearance, which are consistent with the Framework, outweigh the benefits of housing delivery and other considerations in the planning balance.

The benefits of housing delivery (significant weight), economic benefits (moderate weight), social benefits from additional parking (modest weight), and environmental benefits from biodiversity net gain (modest weight) were significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the substantial harm to character and appearance and the conflict with the spatial strategy (given limited weight as the strategy is out of date, but the character policies are given substantial weight as consistent with the Framework), and the conflict with sustainable location and design policies in the Framework (substantial weight).