North Chailey new build home dismissed at appeal by planning inspector

In a decision notice published on Friday (November 18), a planning inspector has dismissed an appeal connected to plans to build a four-bedroom house on land adjacent to a property known as Bernisdale in Haywards Heath Road.

LDC planning officers had refused the scheme in February, citing concerns about its impact on the character of the surrounding area as well as its relatively isolated location.

These concerns were shared by the planning inspector, who argued it was in an ‘unsuitable’ location with poor public transport, walking and cycling links which would make residents highly dependent on private cars.

The inspector did acknowledge that LDC has a shortage of housing when compared to government targets, but said the benefits of a single home wouldn’t do much to address this.

In their decision notice, the planning inspector said: “The benefits associated with the proposed development are modest in scale and, in some cases, not clearly supported by evidence that they can be delivered.

“Set against those benefits are the negative environmental and social effects associated with the unsuitable location.”

They added: “Given the harm that I have identified, I conclude that the adverse impacts of granting permission would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the [National Planning Policy] Framework as a whole.”

For further information on the appeal see application reference LW/21/0996 on the Lewes District Council website.