Gladman granted Little Heath permission

The Planning Inspectorate has decided to grant planning permission for the Gladman development at Little Heath. The permission is for the full 120 homes he said he could squeeze on to the plot.

It is now eight months since the appeal last May and a decision to grant was almost inevitable after the lack of any defence against developments was clear in December when Cheshire East granted planning permission to build 26 homes off Heathfield Road.

The two decisions at Little Heath and Heathfield has now resulted in the plainly ridiculous situation where Audlem was to have around eighty new homes under the Cheshire East Local Plan over the next twenty years and now has around 150 in the immediate pipeline.

You can read the lengthy appeal decision by clicking on the PDF file beneath the smiling photo of David Gladman.

The critical words are:

Decision

1. The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for a residential development of up to 120 dwellings, highway works, public open space and associated works on land west of Audlem Road, Audlem, Cheshire CW3 0HE in accordance with the terms of the application, Ref 13/2224N, dated 24 May 2013, subject to the conditions set out at Annex A to this decision.

Conclusion and balance

In this case the development plan is out of date. The proposed development has been shown to be sustainable development. Therefore, paragraph 14 of the Framework is engaged. There would be few adverse impacts in allowing the appeal and granting planning permission.

Such impacts are not weighty and would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the scheme. In particular, the contribution of the development of the appeal site to the identified housing need in the Borough, in circumstances where a five year housing land supply cannot be identified is a persuasive and weighty factor in the consideration of this appeal.

In combination with the other positive facets of the development, it is concluded that the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies and planning permission should be granted.

Application for costs

At the Inquiry, an application for costs was made by Gladman Developments Ltd against Cheshire East Council. That application is the subject of a separate Decision

Decision: The application for an award of costs is refused.

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