Last week, Scarborough Borough Council refused outline consent for the scheme on nine hectares of agricultural land on the edge of the village of Cayton.
According to a planning officers' report, the council is able to demonstrate a five year housing land supply and, as such, the National Planning Policy Framework’s (NPPF’s) presumption in favour of sustainable development did not apply.
The report said the proposed homes "would be located within the countryside, for which there is no demonstrable exceptional circumstance".
It added that the proposed development "would not accord with [the local plan], will harm the character of the countryside, does not constitute sustainable development and is therefore unacceptable on its planning merits".
Planners advised that, even if the council was unable to demonstrate a five year housing land supply, policy in its local plan says that only "deliverable" and sustainable housing sites "that would both make a positive contribution to the five year supply and [are] well-related to the defined development limits … would be supported".
The report said that, "under that definition, as the present application is for outline planning consent and no evidence (let alone 'clear evidence') has been submitted to demonstrate that housing completions will begin on site within five years, the application cannot be considered to make a 'positive contribution to the 5-year supply'".
The report also concluded that the scheme would "result in the wholesale loss of the agricultural land which is a defining feature of the setting of Cayton village and constitutes the visual separation between Cayton Village and Cayton Bay".
Other grounds for the planners’ recommendation for refusal included that no "completed legal obligation" had been secured to ensure a developer contribution for education provision, green spaces or affordable housing.
Last month, a planning inspector cited concerns over traffic flows to refuse permission for a 240-home Gladman scheme on an unallocated greenfield site in Nottinghamshire.
Also last month, a planning inspector dismissed an appeal by Gladman against a council's refusal for a 420-home development, despite the local authority lacking a five-year housing land supply.
