Our ref: APP/P4605/W/18/3192918 Harris Lamb Property Consultancy Your ref: 75-76 Francis Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 8SP 24 July 2019 Dear Sirs TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 – SECTION 78 APPEAL MADE BY BLOOR HOMES (WESTERN) LAND AT SITE OF FORMER NORTH WORCESTERSHIRE GOLF CLUB LTD, HANGING LANE, BIRMINGHAM B31 5LP APPLICATION REF: 2017/02724/PA 1. I am directed by the Secretary of State to say that consideration has been given to the report of Paul Singleton BSc (Hons) MA MRTPI, who held a public local inquiry starting on 2 October 2018 into your client’s appeal against the decision of Birmingham City Council (the Council) to refuse your client’s application for outline planning permission, with all matters reserved except access, for the demolition of the club house and development of up to 950 dwelling, public open space, primary school, multi-use community hub, new access points and associated infrastructure.developments in accordance with application reference 2017/02724/PA dated 24 March 2017. 2. On 31 January 2018, this appeal was recovered for the Secretary of State's determination, in pursuance of section 79 of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to, the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Inspector’s recommendation and summary of the decision 3. The Inspector recommended that the appeal should be determined on the basis of the revised proposal for up to 800 dwellings and should be allowed. 4. For the reasons given below, the Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector’s conclusions and agrees with his recommendation. He has decided to allow the appeal and grant planning permission. A copy of the Inspector’s report (IR) is enclosed. All references to paragraph numbers, unless otherwise stated, are to that report. Environmental Statement 5. In reaching this position, the Secretary of State has taken into account the Environmental Statement which was submitted under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011. Having taken account of the Inspector’s Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government Tel: 0303 44 41626 Jean Nowak, Decision Officer Email: [email protected] Planning Casework Unit 3rd Floor Fry Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF comments at IR1.9-1.11; IR7.1-7.6; IR14.4-14.5 and IR14.100-14.102 the Secretary of State is satisfied that the Environmental Statement and other additional information provided during the Inquiry complies with the above Regulations and that sufficient information has been provided for him to assess the environmental impact of the proposal Procedural matters 6. Following the refusal of the application by the Council, a revised Development Framework Plan (DFP) and revised Indicative Layout Plan (ILP) were submitted to the Council (IR1.5-1.8 and IR5.1-5.12). The Inspector recommends that the appeal should be determined on the basis for the revised proposal for up to 800 dwellings (IR14.2-14.6). The Secretary of State sees no reason to disagree and does not consider that the revised DFP and ILP raise any matters that would require him to refer back to the parties for further representations prior to reaching his decision on this appeal, and he is satisfied that no interests have thereby been prejudiced. 7. Applications for partial awards of costs have been made by a) Birmingham City Council against Bloor Homes (Western) and by b) Bloor Homes (Western) against Birmingham City Council (IR1.1) These applications are the subject of separate decision letters, also being issued today. Matters arising since the close of the inquiry 8. On 21 February 2019, the Secretary of State wrote to the main parties to afford them an opportunity to comment on: • The Written Ministerial Statement on housing and planning, issued on 19 February 2019. • The publication, on 19 February 2019, of the 2018 Housing Delivery Test measurement by local planning authority and a technical note on the process used in its calculation. • The Government’s response to the technical consultation on updates to national planning policy and guidance, published 19 February 2019. • The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 19 February 2019. • Updated guidance for councils on how to assess their housing needs. 9. These representations were circulated to the main parties on 11 March 2019. 10. The Secretary of State also notes that the latest ‘House price to workplace-earnings ratio’ was published on 28 March 2019. The Secretary of State does not consider that the publication of this document raises any matter that would require him to refer back to the parties for further representations prior to reaching his decision on this appeal, and he is satisfied that no interests have thereby been prejudiced. 11. The Secretary of State received representations from Bloor Homes (Western) and J Bloor on 10 May 2019. The Secretary of State is satisfied that the issues raised do not affect his decision as the representations were expressing frustration at the delay to a decision and no other new issues were raised in this correspondence to warrant further investigation or necessitate additional referrals back to parties 2 12. A list of all representations received is at Annex A. Copies of these letters may be obtained on written request to the address on the first page of this letter. Policy and statutory considerations 13. In reaching his decision, the Secretary of State has had regard to section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which requires that proposals be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. 14. In this case the development plan consists of the Birmingham Development Plan (BDP), adopted in January 2017, and the Birmingham Unitary Development Plan 2005 Saved Policies January 2017 (UDP). The Secretary of State considers that the development plan policies of most relevance to this case are those set out at IR3.2-3.15. 15. Other material considerations which the Secretary of State has taken into account include the National Planning Policy Framework (‘the Framework’) and associated planning guidance (‘the Guidance’). The revised National Planning Policy Framework was published on 24 July 2018 and further revised in February 2019. Unless otherwise specified, any references to the Framework in this letter are to the revised Framework. Main issues 16. The Secretary of State agrees with the Appeal Inspector (the Inspector) on the main considerations in the appeal (IR14.7). Meaning of windfall sites 17. For the reasons given at IR14.8-14.18, the Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that there is nothing in the Framework definition to support the Council’s assertion that a site of 35ha should not be treated as a windfall site in Birmingham (IR14.15). BDP Examining Inspector’s Report (EIR) 18. For the reasons given at IR14.19-14.27, the Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that the Examining Inspector (EI) found the site met the tests of availability and suitability (IR14.26) and that neither paragraph 61 nor paragraphs 222 & 223 of the EIR provide any meaningful support for the Council’s assertion that the EI rejected the site in principle (IR14.27). BDP Policies 19. For the reasons given at IR14.28-14.34 the Secretary of State does not accept that a grant of planning permission for the proposal would undermine public confidence in the planning system and plan-led approach (IR14.30). Furthermore, for the reasons at IR14.31 the Secretary of State considers that the proposal does not conflict with Policy PG1 or with its underlying objective of delivering 51,100 new homes in the City. The Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that the key policies for the assessment of an application for housing development on such a site are BDP Policies TP27, TP28 and TP30 (IR14.32). 3 The meaning of “deliverable” 20. The Secretary of State has carefully considered the Inspector’s conclusions on the meaning of the definition of deliverability in the Framework. For the reasons given at IR14.35-14.43 he agrees with the Inspector’s view that ‘realistic prospect’ remains the central test against which the deliverability of all sites must be measured (IR14.41). The Council’s 5 year housing land supply 21. The Secretary of State has considered the Inspector’s analysis at IR14.44-14.53 and assessment of disputed sites in Appendix B to the report. For the reasons given the Secretary of State agrees that 847 dwellings should be removed from supply (IR14.52) and the effect of these reductions is to reduce the total number of dwellings in the Council’s revised assessment of the identified supply from 19,023 to 18,206 (IR14.53). Windfalls 22. For the reasons given at IR14.54-14.56 the Secretary of State sees no reason to adjust the allowance as the appellant suggests. Lapse Rates 23. For the reasons given at IR14.57-14.59, the Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that even the application of a 10% lapse rate, as suggested by the appellant, would not reduce the adjusted supply below the 5-year threshold (IR14.59). Market Evidence 24. The Secretary of State has considered the Inspector’s analysis at IR14.60-14.71 and agrees with his conclusion at IR14.72-14.73 that even if both the lapse rate and market attrition rate are applied, the resulting figure of 17,470 would still result in a supply of 5.82 years. The Secretary of State also concludes, like the Inspector, that the Council is able to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply (5YHLS) (IR14.73).