Developer loses bid to build in countryside after inspector sees Milton Keynes residents “pottering about” at home

Planning inspector Louise Nurser visited the site in Bow Brickhill, near Milton Keynes, on March 12 to see for herself how close 28 new homes would be to residents in the area.

There are rules on how much distance should be between houses to avoid overlooking.

They only gave a 16-metre gap, when it should have been 22 metres, the inspector found.

“On my site visit I was able,” she wrote in her April 27 decision letter, “when walking along the footpath, to clearly glimpse occupants pottering about within the ground floor accommodation.”

She concluded that the proposed building of 28 homes at Rectory Farm, in Woburn Sands Road, “would have an adverse impact on the living conditions of existing and future occupants”.

David Gill of Gill Hudson Homes had told the inspector, at a four-day inquiry held between February 25 and 28, that he did not believe that Milton Keynes Council could prove that it had a five year supply of land to meet the city’s housing needs.

But, after going through all the proposed development sites in MK with a fine-tooth comb, the inspector concluded that the council had proven its case.

Developers said the council could only prove that 8,425 homes would be built in the next five years, when it needs to see 10,087 built to meet legal requirements.

The council said it is confident that 13,610 can be delivered.

After looking through the council’s rationale for scores of sites, the inspector concluded that she believed the council has a housing supply to last 5.9 years.

MK’s elected head of planning said the decision has fully validated the council’s approach.

Cllr Martin Gowans (Lab, Bletchley East) said: “We’re pleased with the positive outcome of this appeal and have had full confidence in our position throughout.

“It fully validates the approach set out in Plan:MK which was adopted by the council last year.

“Our five-year housing supply in MK has been made clear, and we’re in a very strong position to continue to make democratic decisions about the future growth and development of Milton Keynes.”

And there was further bad news for the developer, who had appealed against a council decision to refuse planning permission in 2019.

The inspector concluded that even if the council could not prove it had enough housing, she still considered that the “adverse impacts significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.”