49 Court Road, Kingswood, Bristol, BS15 9QG

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

• the effect of the development on the vitality and viability of the Kingswood Town Centre
• the living conditions of neighbouring occupiers, with particular regard to noise and disturbance
• the character of the area

What decided it

The failure to comply with the sequential test under Policy TC3 of the Framework, coupled with the substantial harm to town centre vitality and the inability to adequately mitigate noise impacts on neighbouring living conditions, meant the benefits would be substantially outweighed by adverse effects under Policy S4.

Policy S4 of the Framework requires that development proposals within settlements should be approved unless the benefits would be substantially outweighed by any adverse effects; the Inspector found the benefits (health and wellbeing of attendees, economic benefits, income to the appellant, and reuse of an existing building) would be substantially outweighed by the substantial harms arising from failure to comply with the sequential test and the unacceptable noise impacts on neighbouring living conditions.