Appeal Decision
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Appeal Decision Hearing held on 16 October 2012 Site visit made on 16 October 2012 by C A Newmarch BA(Hons) MRICS MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Decision date: 12 November 2012 Appeal Ref: APP/V2635/A/12/2175128 Fosters Sports Ground, Main Road, Clenchwarton, King’s Lynn, Norfolk • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant outline planning permission. • The appeal is made by Elm Park Holdings against the decision of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council. • The application Ref 11/01877/OM, dated 2 November 2011, was refused by notice dated 10 February 2012. • The development proposed is ‘residential development of up to 75 dwellings of which 15 will be affordable. This is an outline application with all matters reserved other than access.’ Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Procedural matters 2. The appellant has completed a unilateral undertaking which is discussed further below. 3. Since the application was refused by the Council, the appellant has carried out an archaeological field evaluation. It did not reveal any evidence of significant heritage assets with archaeological interest on the site. The Council confirms that this satisfies its refusal reason No 3. I have no reason to disagree and, accordingly, it has not formed part of my consideration of the appeal. 4. The appellant signed Certificate A at both the application and appeal stages, in good faith. When preparing the unilateral undertaking it was discovered that the red line shown on the submitted plans includes land beyond the appellant’s control. The appellant submitted an amended site location plan, dated 19 September 2012, in the belief that the omitted land forms part of the adopted highway. Subsequent examination of the Highway Authority’s more recent ownership records, dated 25 September 2012 (Plan B), demonstrates that there is a narrow wedge of land between the appellant’s site and the highway. The title to this strip of land is unregistered, and it is in unknown ownership. 5. The appellant has not, therefore, signed the correct Certificates. The parties disagree as to whether the appeal is valid, or whether a Grampian condition could be used to preclude development taking place until the ownership matter is resolved. Even though the Highway Authority does not object to the proposed junction between the site and Main Road, the appellant has not www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate Appeal Decision APP/V2635/A/12/2175128 demonstrated that it could be implemented. I have, however, decided to dismiss the appeal for other reasons which are explained below. The appellant’s failure to serve the correct notices is not, therefore, a determinative matter, and does not harm the interests of any party. Main Issues 6. The main issues are: • Whether there is a 5 year supply of deliverable housing sites in the Borough; • The effect on the character and appearance of the countryside; and • Whether the proposal would be in sequentially preferable location with regard to flooding and the Hazard Area. Reasons Housing land supply 7. The CS provides for a minimum of 16,500 new dwellings within the Borough from 2001-2026. This figure, which equates to an annual requirement of 660 dwellings, accords with the East of England Plan (EEP), 2008, and was found to be sound at the CS examination in 2011. 8. Taking account of the housing completions between 2001 and 2011, there is a total 5 year housing requirement for 3275 dwellings. Adding an additional 5% buffer, in accordance with paragraph 47 of the National Planning Policy Framework (Framework), the 5 year requirement rises to 3,439 dwellings, which is equivalent to 688 dwellings per annum. 9. The Council’s Annual Monitoring Report, December 2011, published in April 2012, identifies a supply of sites for 3276, which equates to some 4.76 years’ supply. However, paragraph 48 of the Framework permits making an allowance for windfall sites within the 5 year supply where Councils have compelling evidence that such sites have consistently become available in the local area and will continue to provide a reliable source of supply. Given the Council’s experience of the contribution of windfall sites to the housing supply over an 11 year period, together with the unusually large geographical area of the Borough, and the high number of settlements within the Borough, I accept that the Council’s suggested allowances for windfall sites, based on 70% of past rates, is realistic in this instance. On this basis, there is a deliverable housing land supply of around 6.03 years. 10. There remain some differences in approach between the parties with regard to the calculation of the 5 year deliverable supply sites. The appellant submits that the figures for planning permissions and allocations should be discounted by 10%, as in the appeal at Honeybourne (Ref APP/H1840/A/12/2171339). However, as the Council’s annual requirement incorporates an additional 10% for flexibility and non-completion of commitments, this is not necessary. 11. The appellant also challenges the housing provision in the CS on the basis that, in conforming to the EEP, the figures are based on outdated 2004 household projections, and submits a range of scenarios, using the Chelmer model, as well as more recent household projections, which point towards an under- supply of housing land. While some of my colleagues have taken interim www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate 2 Appeal Decision APP/V2635/A/12/2175128 household figures into account in other appeals, it is significant that there was no Core Strategy in place at Bude (Ref APP/D0840/A/09/2115945), and at Wootton Bassett (Ref APP/Y3940/A/10/2141906) the local plan was adopted in 2006. Neither case is, therefore, comparable to the appeal at Clenchwarton, where the CS is a recently examined and adopted development plan document. The evidence base which underpins the CS is not, therefore, a matter for me in this appeal. 12. The Council will need to re-visit its housing provision in the light of more recent household projections, and to keep its housing supply in line with the evidence base in the future, but it has demonstrated that there is currently in excess of a deliverable 5 year housing land supply, and so the CS policies are not out of date. Furthermore, the degree of conflict between the CS and the requirements in paragraph 47 of the Framework is limited, and having regard to paragraph 214 of the Framework, I give full weight to the CS. 13. I have also taken account of the appeal decisions referred to by the appellant in support of the appeal. At Andover (Ref APP/X3025/A/10/2140962) the Inspector identified only 3.3 years supply of housing sites. At Keresley (Ref APP/W3710/A/11/2153247) although the Inspector recognised the importance of household projections, there is no indication of whether the local plan was up to date. At Evesham (Ref APP/H1840/A/10/2124085) the Council was unable to demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply immediately following the (initial, temporary) revocation of the Regional Strategies in 2010. In the appeal at Stratford–upon-Avon (Ref APP/J3730/A/102139071) the site was identified as a Strategic Reserve Site in the local plan. At Moreton in Marsh (Ref APP F1610/A/10/2130320) a 5 year supply to meet the housing requirement in the Structure Plan did not exist, and this weighed heavily in favour of the development. At Marston Green (Ref APP/Q4625/A/11/2157515) there was a significant shortfall in the supply of housing land on any basis considered. Although there are some similarities between some aspects of the above cases and the appeal before me, none is directly comparable for the reasons given. Furthermore, they are based on advice which has been superseded by the Framework, and I give them little weight. Character and appearance 14. Sports activities have not taken place on this former private sports field for some years. The site is vacant and largely unused, other than being cut for hay annually. It is not, therefore, previously developed land. 15. The site is not allocated for any use, but is within the countryside, beyond the built up area boundary of Clenchwarton, as defined on Inset Plan 77 of the Proposals Map of the King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Local Plan (LP), 1998. This remains extant, and is part of the development plan. Clenchwarton includes scattered pockets of development, with several defined built up areas, which are separated from the main part of the settlement. The proposal would infill the area between the existing housing at Coronation Road, Main Road, and the commercial units to west of the site. It would consolidate the sporadic development, which characterises the area. 16. At present views into and out of the site are very limited due to the existing hedges. The appellant would accept a condition requiring the retention of the hedges, but the proposed dwellings would have finished floor levels of at least 3.25m above Ordnance Datum, and each have a minimum of 2 storeys, in www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate 3 Appeal Decision APP/V2635/A/12/2175128 order to address the risk of flooding on the site, which is discussed further below. 17. My attention was drawn to the recently-built houses in Drain Road, which incorporate first floor accommodation within the roof space, and which have been designed with lower ridge heights than their immediate neighbours. However, these were clearly visible from within the site, and the appellant accepts that these do not have raised finished floor levels.