After being refused in March earlier this year, back it comes as an Appeal as it has done on several occasions before. The more obvious reasons for refusal such as outside the settlement boundary and not in the Neighbourhood Plan are sound and were deployed by the Wiltshire Council to refuse it.
Nothing has changed.
The Planning Inspectorate has introduced an online appeals service which you can use to comment on this appeal. You can find the service through the Appeals area of the Planning Portal – see here. The relevant Planning Inspectorate reference is APP/Y3940/W/24/3347445 BUT only type 3347445 into the search box.
The original planning reference is PL/2021/06918 and comments need to be submitted by 10 September.
In case you have forgotten, the application is for the erection of 61 dwellings, access and open space following the demolition of two dwellings and outline permission for 0.72ha of employment land.
These are the reasons for objection:
The application site is located on the northern outskirts of the village of Purton. Core Policy 1 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy sets out the ‘Settlement Strategy’ for the County, and in doing so identifies four tiers of settlement – Principal Settlement, Market Town, Local Service Centre, and Large and Small Village. Within the Settlement Strategy, Purton is defined as a Large Village. The Principal Settlements, Market Towns, Local Service Centres and Large Villages have defined boundaries, or ‘limits of development’. Beyond the limits of development is in countryside. The above is also aligned with the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan.
The application site lies beyond/outside the limits of development of Purton, and so is in the countryside.
Core Policy 2 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy sets out the ‘Delivery Strategy’. It identifies the scale of growth appropriate within each settlement tier. The policy states that within the limits of development of those settlements with defined limits, there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development; but outside the defined limits – that is, in the countryside – other in circumstances as permitted by other policies of the Plan, development will not be permitted, and that the limits of development may only be altered through identification of sites for development through subsequent Site Allocations Development Plan Documents and Neighbourhood Plans. The above is also aligned with the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan.
The site in question is not so identified.
Core Policy 19 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy sets out the ‘Spatial Strategy’ for the Royal Wootton Basset and Cricklade Community Area in which the site lies. It states that development in the Royal Wootton Basset and Cricklade Community Area should be in accordance with the Settlement Strategy set out in Core Policy 1. The proposal is for planning permission to erect 61 dwellings, etc. on the application site, which is in the countryside. Under Core Policies 1, 2 and 19, this does not comply with the Settlement and Delivery Strategies as a matter of principle. The Strategies are designed to ensure new developments satisfy the fundamental principles of sustainability, and so it follows that where a proposal such as this fails to comply with them then it will be unsustainable in this overarching context. The above is also aligned with the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan.
The application site is not identified for development in a Site Allocations Development Plan Document, and it is not allocated in a Neighbourhood Plan document.
Furthermore, there are no material considerations or exceptional circumstances, including in other policies of the Plan, which override the core policy’s position.
The proposal is, therefore, contrary to Core Policies 1, 2 and 19 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy and paragraphs 2, 7-15, 47, equivalents of the Local Plan, and 180(b) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), comprising unsustainable development and equivalents in the newly-revised NPPF.
The proposed development fails to provide and/or secure adequate provision for necessary on-site and, where appropriate, off-site infrastructure to make the application proposal acceptable in planning terms.
The application is therefore contrary to policy CP3 of the adopted Wiltshire Core Strategy, and the newly-revised National Planning Policy Framework, specifically the central social and environment sustainable development objectives.
Finally, although the Government has intimated that the 5-year Housing Land Supply is being brought back into the NPPF, this does not outweigh the above concerns given that: (1) the parish has taken far more houses than originally planned for; and (2) there are more suitable sites for development in the Parish (see emerging Neighbourhood Plan revision).
Comments need to be in by 10 September.