The Planning & Development Team of the UK’s largest independent commercial property consultant and the Midlands leading national property advisor, GVA, has successfully appealed the latest in a series of planning decisions on behalf of house builder Jelson Homes.
The successful appeal, which was granted following the quashing of an earlier appeal decision by the High Court, has cleared the way for the construction of a new six hectare housing development of 105 homes, on agricultural land on the edge of the village of Stoney Stanton, Leicestershire.
Permission for the development was originally refused by the Local Planning Authority in November 2009 with a Planning Inspector concluding that the subsequent appeal should be dismissed. However, following a legal challenge in November 2011, the Secretary of State agreed that, due to legal flaws, the original appeal decision should be quashed.
Following a further Inquiry held in September 2012 a second Inspector agreed with GVA that the proposals represented sustainable development and accordingly granted planning permission.
Jelson is one of GVA’s longest-standing clients, the consultancy having been instructed on the promotion of its strategic sites across the East Midlands for over 20 years. This latest appeal success is one of a number secured for Jelson by GVA over recent years.
Since 2010, GVA has secured planning permission for over 1,000 dwellings across eight greenfield sites, with allocations for many more ready to be implemented as part of Strategic Urban Extensions.
Rob Thorley, Associate, GVA, said: “Despite the generally positive thrust of the NPPF, securing a consent can still require patience and determination. As this case highlights, even the dismissal of an appeal need not herald the end of the planning process and it is imperative that all options are explored and decisions examined to ensure that opportunities to bring forward sustainable development are not being overlooked.
“There has always been scope for differences of opinion over the interpretation of planning policy and never more so than now, with the planning profession and decision makers still getting to grips with a new set of rules. Subtle changes in the way a policy is read and interpreted can lead to wildly differing outcomes. In this case we were able to persuade the second Inspector to take a different view to his colleague, and that the introduction of the NPPF had fundamentally changed the basis for his assessment.
“Working with Jelson Homes, we are able to facilitate the development of high quality, sustainable housing schemes, which support national planning policy objectives set out in the NPPF and deliver much needed market and affordable housing. Schemes are sensitively located and designed to minimise the impact of necessary development on the local landscape and environment.”
Established in Leicester in 1889, Jelson is a family run business that has grown to become recognised as one of the UK’s most significant regional house builders. The company prides itself on the use of traditional construction techniques to deliver quality homes that are built to last.
Terry McGreal, Land and Planning Director at Jelson, said: “Over the last 20 years GVA has consistently provided us with the highest quality planning and development advice. GVA’s in depth understanding and interpretation of the planning system and unparalleled strategic thinking has enabled us to bring forward substantially more new homes that we would otherwise have been able to deliver.
“GVA’s involvement has been crucial in identifying development opportunities, analysing site potential, overcoming constraints / objections and ultimately realising planning certainty, either through planning applications / appeals or through the plan making process.”
Jelson will now prepare a detailed application for the delivery of the 6 hectare site which will include 105 homes, with associated landscaping and infrastructure. The detailed submission will include information on site access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale, all of which will need to be approved by the local authority.
