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Appeal win for dwellings in Oxfordshire

A planning application for two new dwellings in Harcourt Hill, Oxfordshire was refused by the Vale of White Horse District Council. The Council considered the scheme to be visually harmful to the ‘arcadian setting’.

Plainview Planning took the case to appeal at the Planning Inspectorate. The appeal was undertaken via the ‘written representation’ route, with a comprehensive Grounds of Appeal and Statement of Case submitted.

We argued that there was currently an identified supply of housing in the District of 3.5 years only. Under the guidance of the National Planning Policy Framework, this would suggest that the housing policies in the Local Plan should be regarded as out-of-date and accorded less weight. These arguments were accepted by the Inspector.

Most significantly, the Inspector concluded that:

…the houses would be set well back from the road and would not appear incongruous; there would be very little effect on  the street scene from either direction along Stanton Road. Consequently, there would be no significant harm to the character or appearance of the area.

The appeal was allowed.

Should you be considering residential development in Oxfordshire feel free to contact us for advice.