A refusal by Central Bedfordshire Council of planning permission for 135 homes on agricultural land on the outskirts of Henlow has been upheld on appeal by the Secretary of State’s inspector, Diane Lewis (appeal ref: APP/P0240/W/16/3164961).

The section 78 appeal, brought by Gladman Developments Limited, was re-determined after the High Court quashed an earlier inspector’s dismissal of the appeal ([2019] EWHC 127 (Admin)).

The Inspector rejected both of Gladman’s arguments that the “tilted balance” applied in favour of granting of permission. First, the most important policies for determining the appeal (policies CS14, CS16 and DM4) were not out-of-date. 
Secondly, Central Bedfordshire had a five-year housing land supply of 5.7 years. In making this finding, the Inspector upheld the Council’s reliance on their Strategic Housing Market Assessment to calculate housing need in the area, in preference to the standard methodology stipulated in the NPPF. She accepted that the standard methodology would overestimate the local housing need, as the population projections produced by the Ministry for Communities and Local Government in 2014, upon which the standard methodology is based, do not provide a realistic estimate of demographic growth in the area. Moreover, the impact on Central Bedfordshire was accepted to be exceptional when compared to other local authorities. 

The tilted balance not weighing in favour of the development therefore, the Inspector concluded that granting permission would not be in accordance with the development plan and that material considerations did not otherwise indicate permission should be granted. The Inspector’s findings included that:

• The development was not necessary to maintain or enhance the vitality of the rural community;
• The physical form of the development and associated activity would have a strong urbanising influence and result in a harmful loss of rural character, including loss of best and most versatile agricultural land;
• Whilst the primary benefit of the development would be to provide affordable housing, the provision was only the minimum required by the development plan and so only moderate weight would be afforded to it;
• The proposed site was not accessible to a sustainable choice of modes of transport.

The appeal decision is the latest in a series upholding the validity of the Council’s approach to five-year housing land supply (see e.g. appeal refs. APP/P0240/W/18/3206495 and W/18/3220640, decision dated 25 June 2019; and APP/P0240/W/18/3219213 dated 16 March 2020).

Saira Kabir Sheikh KC acted on behalf of Central Bedfordshire Council.  

The decision letter can be found here