A DECISION to reject development plans which would see Bracknell and Wokingham linked has been overturned by the planning inspector.
Beaulieu Homes’ proposal to build 54 homes, including 19 affordable, off St Anne’s Drive, near Hilton St Anne’s Manor, was rejected by Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee in January last year.
The reason for the original decision was the development would reduce the settlement gap between Wokingham and Bracknell.
Additional grounds for the refusal included the applicant’s failure to secure the necessary infrastructure, on and off-site services and amenities, or to provide “adequate financial contributions” to mitigate the impact of the development.
The committee also said there was no legal agreement to secure the provision of affordable housing and its transfer to a registered provider.
There was further concern over the developments impact on, and loss of, protected trees.
Beaulieu Homes appealed the council’s decision and it was referred to the planning inspector.
At an extraordinary planning committee meeting on Tuesday, August 2, last year, Mary Severin, from the council’s legal team, said: “Since the time this application was refused on January 13, 2022, in the course of dealing with the appeal, we have received confidential legal advice from the barrister instructed to represent us.
“He has provided us with new information which was not available at the time of the January decision.”
The information Ms Severin referred to was not made available to the public due to a legal exemption which allowed the planning committee to debate the matter in private.
As a result of the information, the application was brought back to the committee for them to vote on if they should proceed with the reasons for refusal given originally, given the new information.
The council decided it would no longer contest the application based on the reduction of a settlement gap between Wokingham and Bracknell or the impact on protected trees.
It focussed solely on the absence of a legal agreement for affordable housing and the applicants failure to secure the necessary infrastructure.
The matter was then referred back to the planning inspector who held an inquiry and visited the site in late September, before publishing their decision on Tuesday, December 20.
The planning inspector, I Jenkins, felt the application’s main issues were the effects of the proposal on; the character and appearance of the local area; the Spatial Development Strategy, with particular reference to the separation between Wokingham and Bracknell; and the supply of affordable housing and housing land.
Inspector Jenkins also questioned if the application made adequate provision for infrastructure, on and off-site services, amenities and financial contributions to mitigate
the impacts of the development on the local area and the planning balance.
After reviewing the application, inspector Jenkins found that the appeal by Beaulieu Homes was justified.
The conclusion of the report reads: “I have found that the proposal, which would harm the character and appearance of the Green Route and local area as well as undermine the Spatial Development Strategy for the area, would conflict with the Development Plan
taken as a whole.
“However, material considerations exist to outweigh the identified conflicts with the Development Plan, such that a decision other than in accordance with it is justified in this case.”
Cllr Lindsay Ferris, executive member for planning and local plan at the council, described the outcome as “extremely disappointing”.
“We recognise that the planning inspector decided to allow this appeal after assessing it against both our adopted planning policies and national planning policy,” he said.
“This is an extremely disappointing outcome, especially as the inspector acknowledged that the proposal went against our local planning policies, but we accept that they also found any adverse impacts were limited and that the benefits outweighed them.”
Having reviewed the decision, the council don’t believe it can be challenged and will now monitor any development to ensure all planning conditions are met.
Cllr Ferris added: “Mitigating the impact of development has already been secured through planning conditions, a contribution via the Community Infrastructure Levy and a legal agreement.
“If the appellant chooses to implement their planning permission, we will monitor this carefully including their compliance with the planning conditions and the provisions of the legal agreement.”
