Lancaster defeats Wain Homes 108-home appeal
Despite not being able to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, the Planning Inspectorate sided with the city council regarding the developer’s plans for 12 acres of fields in Galgate.
Lancaster City Council had rejected Wain Homes’ outline application in March last year – alongside a similar 115-home project on the same site on land west of Highland Brow. For the 108-home application, the city council provided seven grounds for refusal including impacts on highways and ecology, as well as flooding risk.
The refusal was at odds with the area’s local plan, which had the site as part of the Lancaster South Broad Location for Growth – which is set for up to 3,500 homes. Most of these are to come from the Bailrigg Garden Village, which has yet to really take off.
The local plan allocation also was done with plans in place for a roadwork scheme to unlock the garden village via Junction 33 of the M6. The project had £140m from central government but the funds were not enough to deliver the scheme, so the money was given back.
All of this has necessitated a local plan review, with the city council hoping to submit a revised development framework in June of next year.
When the city council refused the application, it was noted that it only had a two-year housing land supply. It has also had a shortfall of 468 homes since 2011, according to the inspector Katie McDonald’s report.
However, despite the need for housing – especially affordable homes – the inspector dismissed the appeal because of flooding. The inspector found that Wain Homes had not satisfied the sequential test to see if there were other sites preferable for development to avoid flood risk.
“The framework is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk,” McDonald wrote.
“This is sufficient to outweigh the totality of matters weighing in favour of this proposal.”
Lancaster City Council Cllr Sandra Thornberry, who is the chair of the planning committee, applauded the inspector’s decision.
Thornberry said: “The city council was of the view that this housing development was unacceptable for a combination of reasons.
“I’m pleased that the inspector’s conclusions on flood risk were so explicit, and it is equally pleasing that her comments echo the professional opinion of our planning officers and of the members of the planning regulatory committee,” she continued.
“I would advise all developers to take note of the inspector’s conclusions regarding flood risk.”
Wain Homes declined to comment on the story.
Emery Planning was the planning consultant for Wain Homes on the project.
You can learn more about the scheme by searching application reference number 22/01494/OUT on Lancaster City Council’s planning portal. The appeal documents can be found by searching APP/A2335/W/23/3326187 on the Planning Inspectorate website.
Planning is so weird. A developer must promote other sites above their own even if they have no controlling interest in that site? Surely the proposal should be judged on its own merits not against another site where there is no legal interest, otherwise the developer/landowner is doing someone else’s job for them. Simply does not feel right at all. Fine if there is an upper threshold or quantum of development for the population – for example retail and a “city centre first” test. But not for housing, especially when the supply is so dire as is the case here – 2 years supply is grim and with such a high shortfall. If there’s a flood risk mitigate it, make the area/houses resilient
By Sceptic
Sceptic just to explain – the sequential approach to flood risk is to ensure that land with lower risk or indeed very little risk of flooding is developed first while avoiding building in areas where the risk is higher. Logical and I’m sure many whose properties are flooded would say far preferable. Housing could be built resilient and vast areas of the country protected to a degree from flood risk but this is far too costly. And no Wainhomes doesn’t have to promote other sites, just demonstrate they are no better than its own. Truth is we are going to see more flooding with climate change and extreme weather events, so at least trying to avoid areas where we know there are flood risks is basic common sense, let alone national planning policy.
By Informed planner