A proposal for 425 homes in Hampshire within the setting of a listed building has been upheld on appeal.
Planning Portal writes:
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has agreed with the inspector who held a recovered appeal over a 425-dwelling scheme on farmland surrounding Grade II-listed farm buildings in Hampshire and concluded the scheme should be allowed.
Developer Crudance Strategic Ltd had applied to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for planning permission to build the residential development including the provision of 40 per cent affordable homes and six hectares of public open space on farmland at Chineham, near Basingstoke. The council failed to make a decision within the prescribed period.
The Secretary of State’s decision letter noted that the council was unable to demonstrate a deliverable five-year supply of housing land and that the site had been identified for new homes – albeit fewer than in the proposal – in the emerging local plan review.
Pickles acknowledged the harm the proposals would cause to the setting of a Grade II-listed 17th and 18th century farm complex at the existing Razors Farm.
However, like the inspector, the Secretary of State concluded that the adverse impacts of the proposals “did not come close to significantly outweighing the benefits”.
Pickles gave “significant weight” to the provision of homes and a significant proportion of affordable housing in an area with a “significant and serious shortfall in housing” and the economic benefits, including construction jobs, New Homes Bonus funding and increased local spending, that would result from allowing the scheme.
