A LARGER plan for homes on a
Bentley Heath field should be approved, a council planning officer has said.
Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.
Crest Nicholson’s plans for
44 homes off Four
Ashes Road
The council opposed that plan
and it was thrown out on appeal as it was judged to not provide enough homes to
meet council policies and provided too many four-bedroom houses.
But the officers’ latest
report says these two issues have now been addressed and the new scheme should
be approved (see map here).
And it revealed the developer
is has launched a legal challenge against The Planning Inspectorates’ appeal
decision on the 38 homes plan.
Councillors on the planning
committee will be asked to make a decision on Wednesday April 3.
The site and neighbouring fields
is earmarked for 150 homes in council policies on where estates should go in
the coming two decades.
The council report says of
the latest scheme: “The residential development of the site is acceptable in
principle.
“This is in line with a
previous appeal decision, albeit dismissed.”
It says: “The application
provides for an appropriate level and mix of affordable housing which overcomes
the previous concerns at appeal regarding density and mix, which now provides
two, three and four bedroom houses.”
The inspectorate threw out
the 38-homes plan as it had 29.7 dwellings per hectare (dph) compared to a
council policy which demands 30 to 50dph. The new plan would have 34 dph.
It also rejected the plan as
it only had four-bedroom homes in the 23 that would be offered on the open
market. The rest would be affordable.
Under the new plan, there
would be four, two-bedroom; seven, three-bedroom and 16, four-bedroom open
market homes.
Some four residents’ letters
opposed the scheme with concerns over access onto “very busy” Four Ashes Road
Yet the report says Crest
Nicholson allege the Planning Inspectorate “misinterpreted and misapplied”
council policy over the dph for the 38 homes plan.
It said the dph is
“out-dated” and did not correctly apply the Government’s National Planning
Policy Framework, which puts more onus on giving default approval to
development.
And it said its 29.7dph means
the plan falls within the 30 to 50dph range.
The mix of house sizes should
be considered for all 150 homes and across the borough, not just its 38, the
developer has said.
The inspector was “factually
incorrect” to state the site is within the Green Belt, it added.
A two-storey building with 51
“extra care apartments” for OAPs has been submitted for the adjacent field. No
decision has been made by the council.
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