On 21st August 2017 Inspector Baugh-Jones allowed Bellway Homes’ appeal against a refusal of 129 dwellings at Bowlands Hey, Westhoughton, Bolton. David Manley QC acted for Bellway. The site had been allocated as a housing site in the 1995 Bolton UDP but de-allocated in a subsequent review and zoned as Other Protected Open Land. Since then two housing appeals have been dismissed.
Inspector Baugh-Jones noted an agreed 5 years housing land supply figure of 3.1 years and said action was needed now to address it. He expressly rejected the Council’s case that the land should be protected as safeguarded land and noted that OPOL covered very significant areas and that Bolton had expressly conceded that some of it would have to be released to meet housing need going forward. Vehicular access was via residential roads with significant on-street parking. Nonetheless, he took a pragmatic view of circumstances and driver behaviour and concluded that the residential impacts could not be described as severe for NPPF Paragraph 32 purposes.
For a copy of the appeal decision please click here
