DC Casebook: Retail development - Design foils green belt garden centre

Planning, 11 July 2008

The scheme involved demolishing an existing garden centre and constructing a new building together with the provision of car parking and outside growing and sales areas. It would involve a 36 per cent reduction in the built area and a 16.5 per cent reduction in volume. The appellants also stated that it would improve highway safety and additional employment opportunities would be created.

The inspector agreed that improving the openness of the area amounted to a very special circumstance. The additional benefits associated with the scheme added weight to this conclusion. However, while the new building would be an improvement over the existing one, she held that it did not exploit the opportunity to improve the area's character and quality as advised in PPS1. In her view, the building would have the appearance of a mass-produced retail shed typical of any design found on any retail park in the country.

The proposed building was poorly designed and lacked integrated features such as signage and imaginative soft and hard landscaping, she decided. Moreover, on-site renewable energy and solar orientation should also be considered, she held. A high-quality building would be beneficial to the type of business operating from the site as well as making a positive contribution to the built environment, she concluded.

DCS Number 100-055-785

Inspector Susan Hesketh; Inquiry.