®Planning appeal decision
57 New Road, Digswell, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0AL
demolish the existing house and outbuildings, construct a new residential apartment building to provide 12 x 2-bedroom and 3 x 3-bedroom apartments, construction of access, landscape planting and ancillary development
- Authority
- Welwyn Hatfield Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Written Representations
- Development
- residential · Major dwellings
- Inspector
- Dring G
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the effect of the proposal on the character of the area
- whether adequate information is provided in support of the proposal with regard to the biodiversity net gain objective
- whether sufficient contributions towards infrastructure would be provided
What decided it
The substantial and long-lasting harm to the character of the area caused by the significant massing, depth and intensification of residential use, which substantially outweighed the benefits of housing delivery in the planning balance under paragraph 11(d) of the Framework.
The significant social, economic and environmental benefits of delivering 14 additional dwellings in a location with access to services and public transport, and the environmental benefits of biodiversity net gain, were substantially outweighed by the substantial harm to the character of the area resulting from the building's massing, depth and residential intensification.
Framework references: 11, 58, 125, 135
Plan policies cited: Policy SP 9, Policy SADM 16, Policy SADM 11, Policy SP 13, Welwyn Hatfield District Plan Supplementary Design Guidance February 2005, Digswell Character Appraisal January 2004
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.