A DEVELOPER’S plan to build 32 homes on a field on the outskirts of Thornbury has been allowed on appeal by a planning inspector.
Newland Homes’ bid for outline permission for housing on the site at Post Farm, north of Butt Lane, on farmland currently used for cattle grazing, was thrown out by South Gloucestershire Council in January last year.
The developer’s agents Pegasus Group claimed the 32 homes “can be sensitively accommodated on-site, limiting the impact of the scheme in the wider landscape setting”.
However the plans were opposed by Thornbury Town Council and 38 residents, and South Gloucestershire Council agreed.
The application was rejected by officers using delegated powers on seven separate grounds, for contradicting the council’s core strategy, policy, sites and places plan and the Thornbury Neighbourhood Plan.
The council said it would have adverse impacts on the hamlet of Lower Morton and the heritage setting of Grade II listed Yew Tree Farmhouse, which were “not outweighed by the public benefits of the scheme”.
It was a third attempt to develop the site, with the same developers approaching South Gloucestershire Council in 2021 with proposals for up to 37 homes, and an earlier planning application by Linden Homes to build up to 39 homes on the site rejected by the council in 2019.
However after an appeal heald at the end of January, the Planning Inspectorate has now informed South Gloucestershire Council that its decision has been overturned and the development will be allowed.
Newland Homes said the council had not proved it had an adequate supply of land for housing.
‘Public benefits outweigh the harms’ – inspector
In a decision released in March, inspector Hollie Nicholls said: “The public benefits of the proposal include the delivery of up to 32 dwellings, in the context of an undersupply of housing, and of which 40% would be affordable homes.
“Additional benefits would include the provision of further public open space and biodiversity enhancements, through landscaping and specific enhancement measures.
“In my view, these public benefits outweigh the identified less than substantial harms to the designated heritage assets.”
Campaigners Thornbury Against Poorly Planned Development (TRAPP’D) said: “We were disappointed but not entirely surprised by the outcome of the appeal to extend Post Farm for yet another 32 new houses.
“The appeal brought by Newland Homes was on a site that had twice previously been rejected by the Council, is not part of the proposed New Local Plan, and came despite strong arguments from TRAPP’D and other residents that it would damage the setting of the rural hamlet of Lower Morton and other heritage assets as well as causing further traffic congestion and strain on local services.
“The Inspector largely agreed with our arguments about the harm but said that all this was overruled by the fact that we do not have an “up to date” Plan in place.”