Land At And North Of 7 Maplewood Drive, Blindley Heath, RH7 6GQ

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• whether the appeal site is grey belt land and whether the development would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework and any relevant development plan policies
• if inappropriate, the effect of the development on the openness of the Green Belt
• whether the appeal site would be accessible by sustainable modes of transport
• the effect of the proposal on highway safety
• whether the proposal satisfies the requirement for biodiversity net gain
• if inappropriate, whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, would be clearly outweighed by other considerations so as to amount to the very special circumstances required to justify the proposal

What decided it

The proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt that fails to satisfy the sustainability requirement of paragraph 155(c) of the Framework, and the benefits do not clearly outweigh the substantial harm required to establish very special circumstances.

the substantial harm from inappropriateness and unsustainability, together with the harmful loss of openness to the Green Belt, was not clearly outweighed by the modest benefits of housing delivery, sustainable construction methods, and efficient use of land