Following a 5 day public inquiry Inspector Wilkinson has granted outline planning permission for 70 dwellings on a site in Congresbury, North Somerset to M7 Planning Limited and M7 SW LLP. The site lies beyond the defined settlement boundary and the main issues in the appeal were the impact on heritage assets and harm to landscape character and appearance. The Council in defending the appeal sought to place significant weight on a previous refusal for development of the site which had been upheld at appeal. However, the Inspector found that matters were now materially different. He accepted the Appellant’s arguments regarding the impact on heritage assets would cause harm at the lower end less than substantial and that this harm would be outweighed by the social, environmental and economic benefits of the scheme. He further accepted that there would be limited landscape harm arising from the development of the appeal site.
It was agreed before the inquiry that the Council could not demonstrate a 4-year supply of housing. The Inspector was concerned about the Council’s ability to address this finding “A plan-led solution is still some years away”, and described the lack of a housing supply as a “chronic situation”. In these circumstances he found the “whole basis of the Development Plan’s settlement strategy is undermined” and that substantial weight should be attached to the delivery of market and affordable housing. In doing so he noted that “the imperative of increasing housing supply has been given impetus by the recent WMS”.
The Appellant was represented at the Inquiry by Giles Cannock KC and Freddie Humphreys. They were instructed by Lichfields and called Cem Kosaner and Simon Coop of Lichfields on planning and housing matters, Gail Stoten of Pegasus LLP on heritage, Ben Jackson of Ashley Helme Associates Ltd on sustainability and highways and Paul Gibbs of David Jarvis Associates on landscape character and visual impacts.
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