Windmill Court County House, Keighley Road, Illingworth,, Halifax, HX2 8YB

Authority: Calderdale
Appeal type: Planning
Procedure: Written
Development: employment-industrial
Postcode: HX2 8YB

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the proposal would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt
its effect on the openness of the Green Belt
if the proposal is inappropriate development, whether the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations, as to amount to very special circumstances required to justify it

What decided it

The compelling business need and functional requirement for the extension, combined with the very limited harm to Green Belt openness and the ambiguity surrounding whether disproportionate growth had already occurred, amounted to very special circumstances that outweighed the substantial weight due to Green Belt harm.

Substantial weight to harm to the Green Belt (inappropriateness and minor reduction in openness) was outweighed by greater than substantial weight to other considerations (clear business need and functional requirement), such that very special circumstances were demonstrated.

Plan policies cited: Policy GB1 of the Calderdale Local Plan 2018/19-2032/33, 2023

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.