Secretary of State approves first 'called in' application after NPPF

Pickles weighed up the harm of the development on the Green Belt and found that "very special circumstances" existed to justify the development. However, his final decision has been deferred until the parties have agreed planning obligations under a section 106 agreement.

Yorkcourt Properties applied for outline planning permission for a proposed mixed use development which would comprise a £19 million community stadium, multiuse games area, warehousing and distribution units and a hotel.

In his decision letter (179-Pages 1.64MB PDF), the Secretary of State said that the proposal constitutes "inappropriate development" in the Green Belt and would also be "harmful to the Green Belt" in other ways, which he attached "substantial weight" to in his decision.

However, the Secretary of State went on to consider the development and weighed up the harm to the Green Belt land against the potential benefits of the scheme.

"Having taken into account all of the considerations above, the Secretary of State concludes, like the Inspector, that the beneficial effects of the proposal amount to very special circumstances, and are of sufficient weight to clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt, and other harm," the Secretary of State said in his decision letter.

"Significant weight was attached to the need for a community stadium," the letter said, but "without a signed planning obligation that covers the construction of the stadium and traffic regulation order, as proposed by the applicant, the very special circumstances that weigh in favour of this application as a mixed use development in support of the stadium would be diminished".

The Secretary of State proposed to allow the parties until 15 August to submit the planning obligations and responses to some points raised in his letter. If the obligations are not received by this date, he said he will reconsider his decision.

The planning application was 'called in' for the Secretary of State's own determination and a public inquiry into the development, which covered Green Belt land, was ordered following Wakefield Council's approval of the scheme in October 2010.

Part of the development site was designated as Green Belt land, but last week a Planning Inspector agreed to remove this designation and ruled that it should instead be allocated for commercial use.

The Secretary of State's decision had been previously delayed on the scheme to give parties time to deal with the implications of the NPPF, published in March.