Planning House are very happy to announce that we have secured Permission in Principle for 1 or 2 dwellings on a rural site near Cockfield, Co. Durham.
The applicant was refused panning permission, we resubmitted the application on the basis that the time limit for appealing had ran out then appealed the refusal.
Permission in Principle consent route has two stages, the first stage establishes whether a site is suitable in principle, and the second stage, the technical details consent, is where the detailed development proposals are assessed.
In assessing the location of Esperley, whilst it is not defined by a settlement boundary within the Development Plan, the Inspector acknowledged that the hamlet occupies a position close to the larger settlement of Cockfield, where a significant number of services and facilities are present. Cockfield is located 0.6 miles away from the site by road or 11 minutes on foot and 1 minute by car, with the Cockfield Co-op Convenience Store indicated to be 0.9 miles away, although other facilities within the village are further away. Bus stops were located approximately 400 metres away from the site.
Whilst the Inspector found there to be some limited adverse impact on highway safety as a consequence of the failure of either of the existing access points to provide a safe and suitable access to the public highway. However, he concluded that the appeal site could be considered to be a generally sustainable location for residential development. When taken together with the other benefits and considerations being put forward in favour of the development, the Inspector was satisfied that even if there was not a presumption in favour of sustainable development, the benefits of the proposed development would comfortably outweigh the harm.
