Planning Inspector Nick Palmer has allowed an appeal against the decision of Babergh District Council to refuse planning permission for a rural business park at Cobbolds Farm, Ipswich Road, on the outskirts of Hadleigh.
On 18 July 2022, Babergh DC refused planning permission for employment land for use as Class E business buildings up to 1,900m2, and Classes B2 and B8 buildings up to 4,200m2. An appeal was then submitted to The Planning Inspectorate. Following an exchange of written statements, Inspector Palmer agreed with the appellant’s case that planning permission should be granted.
The Inspector accepted the argument that a specific policy in the development plan allowing for rural business parks operated as an exception to the settlement hierarchy, which sought to direct most development towards the towns and other defined settlements. The Council advanced a different argument that would have resulted in the Inspector finding the key strategic policy out-of-date because of its conflict with the National Planning Policy Framework. However, the Inspector did not accept that approach, instead following the approach to policy set out by the appellant. This allowed the Inspector to find that the proposed business park complied with an up-to-date development plan, when taken as a whole [DL37-38]*.
Moreover, other objections raised by the Council, such as ecology and impact upon/competition with other employment sites, were undermined by the absence of any substantive evidence to support the Council’s claims [DL18 & DL31].
Whilst the Inspector found that there would be some harm to the character and appearance of the area this could be mitigated and would be limited [DL39]. There was also found to be harm arising from the limited opportunities for sustainable travel to and from the site [DL40]. However, these harms did not outweigh the considerable economic benefit, which the Inspector afforded substantial weight, and the biodiversity provision, given moderate weight [DL41-43].
Therefore, as the proposed development complied with an up-to-date development plan and that the benefits of the proposal outweighed the harms, the appeal was allowed and planning permission has been granted.
A copy of the decision can be viewed by clicking here.
Max Short of Artisan acted for the landowner during this appeal.
Comment: “This is a very good location for the business park located on the eastern edge of Hadleigh with great access and where there is scope and now permission and space to create a high quality office park as well as accommodating employers in the warehousing and distribution sectors. It is also a great lift for job growth prospects in Hadleigh.”
* The numbers in the square brackets are to paragraph numbers in the appeal Decision Letter.
21 November 2023
