Central Bedfordshire Council Planning Pages

Conditions or Reasons for Planning Application - CB/24/01659/OUT

Conditions or Reasons:

1) The proposal would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt and is therefore, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt. The proposal would also result in a significant loss of openness to the Green Belt in both spatial and visual terms and conflict with one of the Green Belt purposes. The considerations put forwards by the applicant are not considered to individually or collectively amount to a very special circumstance that would clearly outweigh the substantial weight given to the harm to the Green Belt and the other harm identified. As such, the proposal would conflict with Policy SP4 of the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan (2021), Section 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2023) and Policy T1 of the Totternhoe Neighbourhood Plan (2021).

2) On the basis of the information provided within the application, it has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that the proposed development would be exempt from providing a 10% net gain in biodiversity. Therefore, in the absence of any information regarding a mandatory net gain in biodiversity, the proposed development would not be in accordance with Policy EE2 of the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan (2021), Policy T8 of the Totternhoe Neighbourhood Plan (2021), Section 15 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2023) or Schedule 7A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as inserted by Schedule 14 of the Environment Act 2021).

3) The proposed development would, by reason of its proximity lying within a 12.6km distance of the Ashridge Commons and Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the Chilterns Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation (SAC), add to the recreational disturbance in this area, and be likely to harm the integrity of the conservation purposes of the SAC. In the absence of an appropriate strategy to mitigate this harm, the proposal would be contrary to the Habitat Regulations, Policy EE3 of the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan (2021) and Section 15 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2023).

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