Central Bedfordshire Council Planning Pages

Conditions or Reasons for Planning Application - CB/24/01824/VOC

Conditions or Reasons:

1) The site is within the Green Belt and the development comprises inappropriate development within the Green Belt. Very special circumstances therefore need to be demonstrated to clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and any other harm. The proposal would fail to preserve the openness of the Green Belt and would result in encroachment to the open countryside along with visual harm. The reduction in landscaping across the site as well as additional unauthorised built form (including 2 additional pitches) within the site would further impact on the openness of the Green Belt and result in visual harm and further urbanisation of an otherwise rural location. The occupation of the development in breach of the planning conditions constitutes intentional unauthorised development which adds weight against the proposal. The Council can demonstrate a five-year supply of Gypsy and Traveller pitches and is aware of some alternative vacant pitches which the occupiers could move to. No personal information of the occupants of the site have been submitted. Notwithstanding the factors including a lack of alternative available sites for one extended family group, these do not clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt, so as to constitute very special circumstances to justify the variation of conditions 2 and 3 to remove the named permission for the site and variation of conditions 8 and 16 to revise the approved plans. The proposal is therefore contrary to Section 13 (Protecting Green Belt land) of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), December 2023, Planning policy for traveller sites (PPTS), August 2015, as amended December 2023, and Policy SP4 (Development in the Green Belt), Policy H7 (Gypsy and Traveller Development), Policy HQ1 (High Quality Development) and Policy SP7 (Windfall Development) of the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan 2015 - 2035, July 2021.

Return to Search | Close Window

Top of Page

Useful information