Developer’s bid to build 200 new homes in Milton Keynes rejected by inspector

SiteplanUK LLP appealed to the Planning Inspectorate after Milton Keynes Council threw out the bid to build on seven hectares of farm land to the east of Eastfield Drive, in Hanslope.

“I have considered the development on its own merits and concluded there would be harm to the countryside through unsustainable development,” said planning inspector Wayne Johnson in his decision statement.

He said he acknowledged the developer’s case that there would be “notable economic and social benefits” which include affordable housing, public open space and “various financial contributions”.

But he concluded that these arguments “are not sufficient to outweigh the harm identified.”

Mr Johnson had visited the site on January 28 before publishing his decision on March 12. It was almost exactly one year after the council had refused the application. The application itself had been lodged two years before that, in March 2017.

Mr Johnson said that the main issue of the appeal was whether the proposed development, in open countryside, would conflict with local and national planning policies.

And even though the Hanslope Parish Neighbourhood Plan 2016-2031 came into force on October 23, last year, he said it was still relevant.

He did not agree with the developer’s proposed landscaping mitigation and added: “The site’s existing connection to surrounding fields and countryside means it has value in terms of its contribution to the overall landscape and scenic beauty of the area.

“This would be significantly eroded as a result of any form of residential development and would be readily visible from public land, including the public right of ways (PROW).”

Mr Johnson went so far as to add another reason for dismissing plan on land which is 350m from the Church of St James the Great, which is Grade I Listed.

He said is required to have “special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing a listed building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.”