The council claimed that the scheme would over-provide four plus bedroom dwellings and under-provide both two and three bedroom dwellings, referring to a preferred housing mix set out in adopted core strategy policy and a draft supplementary planning document detailing guidance on meeting housing needs in the district.
Based on information from an independent consultant, the appellant argued local issues justified some departure from adopted policy, in particular the need for larger homes to attract the families needed to support a village which had seen little population growth. In the light of this justification and the less than 10 per cent variation from policy, the inspector concluded that the scheme would provide a suitable mix of housing and meet the overall aims and objectives of core strategy. He gave little weight to emerging SPD in his decision.
Inspector: D Board; Written representations
