Day Centre, Rear of 97 High Street, Buntingford, SG9 9AE

change of use of former day care centre to residential dwelling. To include replacement flat roof, installation of glazed roof lanterns and rooflights, infilling of external openings, addition of new external door, installation of air source heat pump and internal alterations and refurbishment

Authority: East Hertfordshire District Council
Appeal type: Planning
Procedure: Written
Development: residential
Postcode: SG9 9AE

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the proposal would comply with development plan policies for the loss of community facilities
whether the proposal would provide acceptable living conditions for future occupiers with respect to outlook

What decided it

The Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply engaged the tilted balance, and the limited harm from loss of community facilities was outweighed by the benefits of housing delivery and heritage conservation.

The adverse effects of conflicting with development plan policies protecting community facilities were limited and did not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of delivering an additional dwelling in an area with insufficient housing land supply and bringing a designated heritage asset back into use in a manner consistent with its conservation.

Framework references: 11, 57, 209

Plan policies cited: EHDP Policy CFLR8, NAP Policy LR3, EHDP Policy DES4, Policies DES4, CC1, CC2, CC3 and WAT4

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.