Phillips Farm Highwood Road Highwood Chelmsford Essex CM1 3PX

1. 1.Reason 1 The site is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt where National and local planning policies severely restrict new development and the construction of new buildings. Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework relates to protecting Green Belt land. It sets out the purposes of the Green Belt and the limited forms of development that may be considered appropriate. Strategic Policy S11 of the Chelmsford Local Plan states that the openness and permanence of the Green Belt will be protected. Inappropriate development will not be approved except in very special circumstances. Local Plan Policy DM6 reflects the list of exceptions set out in paragraph 154 of the NPPF. Paragraph 155 of the NPPF states that the development of homes, commercial and other development in the Green Belt should not be regarded as inappropriate where: a. The development would utilise grey belt land and would not fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt across the area of the plan; b. There is a demonstrable unmet need for the type of development proposed; c. The development would be in a sustainable location; d. Where applicable, the development proposed meets the 'Golden Rules' set out in paragraphs 156-157. The proposal conflicts with paragraph 155 c) because of the highly unsustainable location for new houses. The village is not served by frequent public transport. There is no pavement and street lighting that would connect the site to the nearest bus stop. The prospect of walking on a road with no street lighting nor pavements to access the bus stops would present a danger for future residents. Furthermore, Edney Common has no day-to-day facilities that could be walked/ cycled to from the site: there is no shop, or a WEB PBCS090 25/01786/OUT REOUTZ GP, or a school/nursery or employment opportunities. This would result in a car orientated development, which conflicts with the aims of locating new residential development in a sustainable location. The proposal amounts to inappropriate development in the Green Belt. Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances. Very special circumstances do not exist with this scheme so that the inappropriateness of the scheme would be clearly outweighed by other considerations. In addition, the development would materially impact on the openness of the Green Belt through the presence of built form on what is currently an undeveloped and open site. Through the construction of two new dwellings in addition to parking, a driveway road, hard standing and other domestic paraphernalia both the spatial and visual openness of the Green Belt would be adversely impacted resulting in harm to the Green Belt. The development would harm the openness of the Green Belt to which substantial weight is afforded. The Council's current lack of a five year land supply means that the tilted balance set out in Part 11(d) of the NPPF (2024) applies, the adverse impact identified from the harm to the openness of the Green Belt and that the site is in an unsustainable location and means that the tilted balance in favour of sustainable development is not engaged. For the above stated reasons, the proposal conflicts with Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework, Strategic Policy S11 and Policy DM6 of the Chelmsford Local Plan. Reason 2 The proposal is submitted as self-build dwellings, which are exempt from biodiversity net gain (BNG) and CIL. The application is not accompanied by a signed S106 agreement. In the absence of a legal agreement there is no certainty that the properties would be secured as self-build houses in line with the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015.

From the council's decision notice.

Postcode

CM1 3PX

Application type

Outline

Scale / size

Small

Validated

16 January 2026

Consultation expiry

27 February 2026

Consultation end

27 February 2026

Target decision date

13 March 2026

Statutory period

56 days

Planning Portal ID

PP-14584250

Documents

10