Decision details

This application seeks planning permission for the erection of a two-storey detached dwelling with basement within the grounds of another property, known as ‘Shepway’. The site is located outside of any established settlement boundary within the open countryside and is also within a designated Special Landscape Area and within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Given that the dwelling would be set away from local amenities, without easy access to sustainable transport modes, the site is considered to be unsuitable and an unsustainable location for a new dwelling as future occupiers would be reliant on private motor vehicle use to carry out day to day activities. In addition, the erection of a two-storey dwelling in this location would result in the erosion of the rural character of the area, detracting from the tranquil beauty of the wider Special Landscape Area and Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are no public benefits to the application that would outweigh these concerns and on balance it is considered that the scheme would be unacceptable with regard to local and national planning policy. The application is therefore recommended for refusal.

1.         That planning permission be refused for the reason(s) set out at the end of the Report subject to a change to wording of reason for refusal no. 2 and delegated powers to the Strategic Development Manager to make this change.

Reasons for decision:

1. The application site, being a significant distance from an existing settlement

boundary or local amenities, in the absence of access to sustainable transport

modes, or safe routes for pedestrians represents an unsustainable location for a new

dwelling. As a result the occupiers of the proposed dwelling would rely on car

movements to access all amenities. No demonstration of an essential need for the

dwelling within the countryside has been submitted and as such the proposal is

contrary to saved policies SD1 and CO1 of the Shepway District Council Local Plan

Review, policies DSD, SS1, SS3 and CSD3 of the Shepway Core strategy and the

NPPF which seek to direct new residential development towards existing settlements

and sustainable locations.

2. The proposal fails to conserve, protect or enhance the landscape and scenic beauty of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Kent Downs as a Special Landscape Area and the countryside in which the site is located. The proposal would result in significant harm to the local character and distinctiveness of the AONB, SLA and this part of the countryside by introducing built development into the garden area of an existing dwelling, unrelated to any existing settlement, and would be very apparent from the street, consolidating the sporadic residential development in the locality and increasing urbanisation of the rural area and further intrusion into the Hythe Escarpment local character area. The proposal is contrary to saved policies SD1 and CO4 of the Shepway District Council Local Plan Review, policies DSD and CSD4 of the Shepway Core strategy and paragraph 170 of the National Planning Policy Framework.