Shorts Barn Shorts Farm Road High Easter Chelmsford Essex CM1 4PY

1. 1.The proposed development, for a change of use of an existing barn to a single dwelling unit in the open countryside, would result in an unjustified and unsustainable form of residential development outside the settlement hierarchy identified in the Uttlesford District Local Plan 2021-2041. The site is not located within a settlement where new housing development is supported, and no exceptional circumstances have been demonstrated to justify a countryside location. By virtue of its location, the proposal would fail to promote sustainable patterns of growth and would undermine the spatial strategy of the Development Plan, which seeks to direct new housing to the most sustainable locations. The proposal is therefore contrary to Core Policy 3 and Development Policy 1 of the Uttlesford District Local Plan 2021-2041 and the National Planning Policy Framework (2024)
2. 2.The proposed works, by virtue of its location, design, scale massing and proximity to the street scene, combined with the existing detached buildings already established on site, would cumulatively result in a dominant, cluttered and obtrusive development, not sympathetic to the character and harmful to the open countryside setting of the area, contrary to Policies CP 3, 41, 52, 58, DP 1 of the adopted local plan, C1.1C, ID1.1C of the Uttlesford District-Wide Design Code, Essex Design Guide and paragraphs 187(b), 139(a), 135, 129 of the NPPF.

From the council's decision notice.

Postcode

CM1 4PY

Date validated

11 May 2026