Green Belt

Replacement dwelling in the Green Belt, Stone, Staffordshire
Project
Planning permission was secured on behalf of a private client for a replacement dwelling in the Staffordshire green belt. The house is designed in a traditional style by award winning architects. It provides around 4,600 sq ft of living accommodation which is an increase of 675% on the existing dwelling.
What we did

Neil acted as lead consultant in the planning process. This included the appointment and management of the consultant team, including the architect, landscape architect, sustainability consultant and ecologist. Neil led the negotiations with the Local Planning Authority, including extensive pre-application consultation. In total four consents and permissions were secured on behalf of the client which were critical to the overall case for development in the green belt;

  • Lawful Development Certificate to establish the residential curtilage of the existing dwelling;
  • 2 x Lawful Development Certificates to establish the scale of development that could be built under permitted development rights (the fall back position);
  • Full planning permission for the replacement dwelling.
Through local consultation, over 30 letters of support for the proposal were secured, whilst no objections were received. The proposal was highly commended by the Council’s design and ecology officers. The proposal is of the highest quality design and will provide significant sustainability and ecological benefits. The planning case demonstrated that whilst the development was ‘inappropriate’ in the green belt in NPPF terms, very special circumstances existed in the form of design quality, sustainability and ecological benefits, and that the impact of the new dwelling on the green belt was no greater than the ‘fall back’ position that had been established. This case was accepted by the officer and the replacement dwelling was approved, under delegated powers, by the Council.
What we achieved
Full planning permission was secured for a replacement dwelling in the green belt, having robustly justified the scheme using national and local planning policy. The detailed planning case put forward in the form of the fall back position and very special circumstances, was critical to the success of the application, and was accepted by Officers, ensuring approval.