Inspector allows 120-home greenfield scheme in area of Cheshire with housing shortage

Developer Gladman Developments applied to Cheshire East Council in May 2013 for permission to build 120 homes on fields outside the built up area of the village of Audlem. The Council failed to give notice of its decision within the time allowed by law, and the developer appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to determine the application.

In a decision letter dated 7 January (31-page / 268 KB PDF) planning inspector Frances Mahoney said that there was "a development plan policy vacuum in relation to housing development in the borough", with a regional plan having been revoked, a local plan to 2011 being out of date and the emerging Cheshire East local plan (CELP) being some way from adoption.

The inspector said that she did not find the housing figures put forward by either party to be credible and concluded that the existing housing supply shortfall was somewhere between the 2,370 homes put forward by the Council and the 3,019 given as the lowest figure by the developer. Noting that an inspector examining the CELP had raised concerns about "shortcomings in the Council's objective assessment of housing needs", Mahoney concluded that "the Council, in all probability, is unable to demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing sites".

Considering saved housing policies from the local plan to be out of date, the inspector applied the presumption in favour of sustainable development under the National Planning Policy Framework, which she said "means granting planning permission, where the development plan is absent or relevant policies are out of date, unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits".

The inspector gave significant weight to the impact of the proposals on the character and appearance of the countryside. She noted that the appeal site was in at the "soft built" gateway to "an attractive village" and found that that the development would erode the open nature of the countryside "causing material harm to its verdant, green, pastoral character and appearance". She also afforded limited weight to the loss of 'best and most versatile agricultural land' under the plans.

However, the inspector decided these adverse impacts "would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the scheme", in particular "the contribution of the development of the appeal site to the identified housing need in the borough", which Mahoney said was "a persuasive and weighty factor in the consideration of this appeal".