The Local Planning Authority considers that sufficient sites have been identified to meet the need to provide, over the period to 2028, 500 new homes within the settlement boundaries of the ‘Other Settlements’ defined by policy CS 1 Development Strategy of the emerging Charnwood Local Plan 2011 to 2028 Core Strategy. The proposal would undermine that development strategy and would, therefore, be contrary to policy CS 1.

It is established planning policy, at both national and local level, that new development should be permitted outside established settlements in exceptional circumstances only. These circumstances normally relate to an agricultural need. The application site is located in the countryside and there are no exceptional circumstances which justify over-riding the normal planning policies. The proposed development would, therefore, conflict with saved Policy CT/1 of the adopted Borough of Charnwood Local Plan, which promotes sustainable development and seeks to protect the rural character and appearance of the countryside, and with saved Policy CT/7 of the same plan, which sets out the criteria against which development proposals for sites in Areas of Particularly Attractive Countryside will be considered.

The dwellings would be sited adjacent to the designated Queniborough Conservation Area and the proposed access falls within the conservation area boundary, where development is required by statute to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the area.The local planning authority considers that the access to the site would, by replacing a natural edge to the conservation area with a hard-surfaced suburban form, be damaging to the character and appearance of the conservation area. The proposal is, therefore, contrary to national policy expressed in the National Planning Policy Framework, and to saved policy EV/1 of the Borough of Charnwood Local Plan 1991 to 2006 and policies CS 2 and CS 14 of the emerging Charnwood Local Plan 2011 to 2028 Core Strategy.