Newport Self-build plan approved after Planning Inspectorate steps in

A planning inspector has overturned a council decision to reject a man’s plan for a self-build dwelling after being guided by the Government’s new pro-housebuilding policies.

Labour announced plans to accelerate housebuilding and deliver 1.5 million homes in the country last year and introduced a new planning framework in February.

Now a planning inspector who was called on to decide between a man who wanted a self-build home and the council that rejected his application has backed the building proposal.

In a decision announced earlier this month the inspector told Telford & Wrekin Council that it is not enough to say that plans are against its policies. They did not show any harm, the inspector said.

Applicant Mitchell Glassey had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate after Telford & Wrekin Council rejected his scheme for land at Forton Road. It is considered to be in the countryside in policy terms.

The planning inspector said that he has “taken account of the revised Framework, and any comments made, in my determination of the appeal.”

Inspector P Brennan said: “Aside from conflict with these policies, the council has failed to clearly explain or identify how or why such conflict would result in harm.”

Newport is identified as the borough’s second key settlement, where the delivery of approximately 1,330 new homes up to 2031 would be supported, the inspector noted.

The inspector said the appeal site would be in an accessible location within walking distance of services, facilities, and public transport connections in Newport town centre, around 1.2km from the site.

It is located on a well-lit carriageway with footways with significant housing development located opposite it.

“The site is functionally and visually linked to Newport and would not lead to an isolated home in the countryside. In these regards, the development would be sustainably located.”

The inspector added: “The framework furthermore seeks to significantly boost the supply of housing.

“Though the proposal is for one dwelling, this would be valuable in boosting the local housing stock.

“It would also provide construction jobs and some local investment during its build out, as well as longer term expenditure in the local economy.

“The delivery of housing and the benefits of the proposal with respect to the overarching social, economic, and environmental dimensions of the Framework, weigh in favour of the proposal.”

The inspector concluded that “despite conflict with the development plan, my decision should be made other than in accordance with it.”

The inspector also ruled that the Planning Policy Guidance is clear that planning permission cannot be withheld on the grounds that the biodiversity gain objective may not be met.

Conditions, the inspector added, should be “ kept to a minimum and only imposed where they are necessary, relevant to planning and to the development to be permitted, enforceable, precise, and reasonable in all other aspects.”