Wrenman wins Grey Belt appeal against Lancaster
The Planning Inspectorate has overturned the city council’s refusal of the developer’s outline application to build up to 200 homes on 28 acres of Green Belt in Bolton-le-Sands.
Wrenman Strategic Land plans for the site off Slyne Road had hit a roadblock in February, when Lancaster city councillors voted to reject it against officer recommendation.
At the heart of the appeal was whether or not the 28 acres in question represented Grey Belt, which is Green Belt land that does not strongly prevent unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas, prevent towns from merging, or preserve the character of historic towns.
City councillors had argued that the site was not Grey Belt as it stopped the urban sprawl of Bolton-le-Sands, which they said was a large built-up area.
The inspector, as well as the council’s own planning officers, disagreed – pointing out that Bolton-le-Sands and the neighbouring Hest Bank and Slyne were three separate villages rather than a single large built-up area.
With the Grey Belt question resolved, the inspector sided with the council officer’s assessment, which pointed out the benefits of Wrenman’s project including the delivery of 45% on-site affordable housing and more than 13 acres of green and blue infrastructure.
You can read the inspector’s assessment by using appeal reference 6006320 on the Planning Inspectorate’s website, or by using reference 25/00805/OUT on Lancaster City Council’s planning portal.
The project team for the scheme included Lane Town Planning, Envirotech, Curtins, EPS, WSL, Redmore, UCM, and E3P.
READ MORE: Is Grey Belt the answer to the UK’s housing shortage?
