Appeal Success for McLoughlin Planning – PiP in Stroud District

We have recently been successful at appeal in using PiP to secure planning permission for the replacement of a single dwelling with up to 9 houses.

The proposal involved a property situated at the end of Old Ends Lane in Stonehouse, measuring circa 0.5 ha. The application sought permission in principle for the erection of 9 houses was originally rejected by Stroud District Council, despite pre-application advice to the contrary. However, following the submission of a written representation appeal, the Inspector overturned the Council’s decision on the property, which currently is a single house with a large back garden.

The Inspector commentated that the site is large and “clearly capable of accommodating more homes that the single house it currently contains” going on to add that the proposal would not be incongruous even if it includes smaller homes position close to each other, given the variety of local building styles an absence of uniform layout.

Whilst 5-year supply was not part of the Appellant’s case, the Council claimed that there was not an ‘overriding need” for further houses. It is an interesting footnote to the case that Inspector reminded the Council that the NPPF’s five-year housing land supply target is a minimum and that there was no policy that precludes additional development over this figure. The proposal would also increase the number of homes and so would be more efficient use of land.

This example further serves to demonstrate the usefulness of PiP Applications for private clients in providing highly cost-effective solutions to determine the development potential of their land and secure an uplift in value.

If this were a conventional outline or detailed application, upfront costs would have been considerably higher, reflecting the need for more technical work. Whereas, with the PiP process, the costs are largely focused on the planning case for the development, allowing significant savings to be made. Please get in touch for further guidance if this is of interest to you.