Homes plan refused on appeal

blackmorevaleMarch 18, 20210 Comment0

Plans for up to 90 homes on land west of Waterlake and Grosvenor Road, Stalbridge, have been refused following an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate by Lightwood Strategic Ltd against the local authority’s failure to decide their application – which was submitted in March 2020.

Inspector Benjamin Webb dismissed the appeal, saying the proposal would be unsuitable because of its effect on the character and appearance of the area, including the landscape and Stalbridge Conservation Area.

He acknowledged that the application followed dismissal of an earlier appeal relating to an outline scheme for 98 homes on much the same site, and that aside from a reduction in the number of homes there were important differences between the schemes, including a smaller site, single point of access and development focused on the southern part of the site.

He said: “The inspector in the previous appeal expressed particular concern in relation to the exposure of development in the two northernmost fields of the site as then defined. It remains the case however that the Inspector did not assess the impact of development clustered in the southern section of the site, given that this was not proposed, and nor did he find that development within the central section of the site would have been visually acceptable.”

He said the loss of historically open agricultural land within the setting of the historic town would result in the erosion and loss of rural character, diminishing the historic identity of the settlement and harm the significance of the Conservation Area as a whole.

He said the provision of up to 90 dwellings, 36 affordable would in general terms make a sizeable contribution towards addressing the shortfall in the council’s five-year supply and help to address the need for affordable housing. But the outstanding permissions for 227 dwellings in Stalbridge would more than satisfy the need in the housing register.

He added: “Whilst the 825 dwellings proposed for Stalbridge and the 18 larger villages in the Local Plan is neither a target nor minimum figures, it has been both met and substantially exceeded.”