Appeal dismissed due to Outline Permission concerns
Burrows Road development
The Welsh Planning Inspectorate relied on our client’s written representations in upholding a planning refusal due to its impact on the character and appearance of a traditional mid terrace street. The applicant tried to secure a foothold by applying for ‘outline’ planning permission while not properly reserving the status of appearance, scale, and layout for future ‘reserved matters’ consideration.
Bosworth Road, Neath is made up of mid-19th century terraced housing characteristic of West Glamorgan. Our client was able to show that notwithstanding matters of layout and scale were prima facie reserved, on any view the application site was too narrow to accommodate residential development without it extending beyond the established building line of those mid-terraced properties. Accordingly, the inspector agreed this would cause unacceptable harm to the area’s character.
Separately the inspector, in dismissing the appeal, agreed that highway safety concerns could not be addressed, particularly where boundary fences and walls would obstruct sightlines. Our client’s representations showed safety standards were not met.
Our client also raised concerns about reserved matters, and that the nature of what had been submitted as part of the outline application in fact risked planning considerations being overlooked or missed. The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012 requires that any outline planning application still include certain approximate and upper and lower limits regarding layout and scale. Welsh Government Circular 016/2014 sets out that in terms of form, plans and details are part of the outline proposal unless stated to be “indicative”. Our client’s representations contended that the application lacked proper indicative labeling leaving the potential for insufficient planning oversight and this played into the inspector’s decision to refuse the application on highway safety grounds.
These combined issues were contrary to development plan policy, together with sustainable development principles and Welsh Ministers’ well-being objectives and accordingly the appeal was refused.
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Associate (Barrister)- Paralegal
- Partner
Commentary
Our client was rightly concerned that the applicant was trying to include planning details within the outline application but in fact registering them as reserved matters to avoid them being properly considered. This created a real risk of insufficient planning oversight if the appeal were granted, thereby allowing the development to avoid planning scrutiny as part of any reserved matter assessments. If certain planning considerations, rather than being “reserved,” were included (albeit in a concealed way) they could be treated/assumed as having been acceptable at a later stage. This was particularly the case with highway safety concerns being overlooked.
Applying the Proberun principle (Proberun Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment [1990] 3 P.L.R. 79) a planning authority cannot subsequently reject reserved matters that relate to the principle of development having been approved as acceptable at the outline stage. Our client’s representations made clear that if outline permission were granted that would presuppose access was approved (in some shape or form), and even if conditions are imposed to address highway safety, the requirement is merely to make the access safety as good as possible, which might still fall short.