Good sense prevails as Secretary of State calls in application

Good sense prevails as Secretary of State calls in planning application for 490 homes in Blandford.

Wyatt Homes Development at Blandford/Pimperne

With North Dorset finally having achieved over 5 years supply of deliverable housing sites against its housing requirement to meet government demands, we thought there was a good chance the Northern Area Planning Committee last autumn might turn down Wyatt Homes application to build 490 homes north of Blandford. How wrong we were.

First Planning Approval, October 2023

The campaign to stop this development had been based on the following key grounds:

• Housing needs were well provided for already in North Dorset, especially in Blandford and Pimperne.
• Limited evidence of the need for a new school, which would be paid for by Section 106 developer funding tied to this application.
• Harm to the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (CCAONB), and its setting, on whose land some of the development would be built.
• Conflict with Pimperne’s Neighbourhood Plan, as 150 homes would be built within their parish.

Housing targets in the North Dorset Local Plan for Blandford Forum and St Mary, as well as in the surrounding villages had been exceeded thanks to a massive building programme in recent years. There was little evidence of the need for a new school with data showing declining school rolls, and if there was need later, surely this could be achieved more cheaply with a few extra classrooms? Granting permission would also result in severe traffic congestion for Blandford and place more pressure on Blandford’s creaking infrastructure.

The National Landscape (NL) would be harmed with views to and from it seriously affected, and good farmland, which contributes to food security and acts as a carbon sink against climate change, sacrificed. 150 dwellings would be built in the parish of Pimperne, threatening the important “gap” between the village and Blandford, in direct conflict with Pimperne’s recently re-made Neighbourhood Plan.

The planning officer’s report for the October hearing acknowledged that there was a conflict with the council’s development plan, which said building in the countryside should be resisted. However, committee members seemed determined to approve yet more housing, with little regard for the harm it would cause to local residents, Cranborne Chase National Landscape (previously known as the CCAONB) and Pimperne. Admittedly the development is well designed, but is clearly in the wrong place. One wonders about the composition of the committee, with no members on it representing Blandford.

It was particularly galling for Pimperne Parish Council Chairman, Peter Slocombe, who spent hundreds of hours with volunteers to create the Neighbourhood Plan, which was flouted both here and in a previous recent planning application, while Pimperne would receive no Section 106 benefits at all. After the committee approved it, we together with Pimperne Parish Council and the NL requested that it be called in by the Secretary of State. This was made as the planning committee failed to deal with several matters of national importance, including the committee’s failure to uphold the recently remade Pimperne Neighbourhood Plan and its support for major development within an AONB without exceptional circumstances.

Calling-In by Secretary of State, April 2024

After months of suspense, Felicity Buchan, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, on behalf of the Secretary of State, did call in the application. A Planning Inspector will carry out a public inquiry into the proposal. This immediately followed the Northern Area Planning Committee’s decision to approve for a second time so that changes to material planning considerations could be taken into account. Campaigners had hoped the committee would defer the hearing until councillors had been trained on the changes in the planning rules, which they have not, but this need was ignored by both officers and the committee, while the Planning Officer made light of the effects of planning changes on this application. Even the local MP Simon Hoare spoke on behalf of the opposition.

The calling-in letter tells Dorset Council that for the Secretary of State “the matters which he particularly wishes to be informed about for the purposes of his consideration of the application are:

1. a) The extent to which the proposed development is consistent with Government policies for delivering a sufficient supply of homes in the NPPF (Chapter 5);
2. b) The extent to which the proposed development is consistent with Government policies for conserving and enhancing the natural environment in the NPPF (Chapter 15);
3. c) The extent to which the proposed development is consistent with the development plan for the area; and
4. d) any other matters the Inspector considers relevant.”

Campaigners were elated to hear this news, but we must now prepare for the public enquiry.