Planning Appeal Success for Green Belt Infill in Basildon

In 2020, I won a planning appeal against Basildon Council for the erection of two infill dwellings on land, within the Metropolitan Green Belt, in Little Burstead, Essex.

Basildon Council had refused outline permission, arguing that the proposal represented inappropriate development in the Green Belt and that Little Burstead did not constitute a village for planning purposes.

The Planning Issue

The central planning issue was whether the appeal site could be considered a village within the meaning of the NPPF, thereby bringing the proposal within the limited infilling exception to Green Belt policy.

I assembled a body of evidence — including the Basildon Council's own Urban Characterisation Design Review, the Plotlands Study, ONS sub-division data and contextual mapping — to establish that the panning appeal site forms part of Little Burstead, which constitutes a village. I noted that Little Burstead contains a pub and church, features characteristic of traditional village settlements.

The Inspector accepted my argument that the site lay within a village and that the proposal, with detached residential properties on three sides, represented limited infilling within the meaning of the Framework.

This case established important precedent for subsequent infill appeals within this location.

Planning Appeal Advice

If you have a development project and you have received a planning refusal, contact me for practical advice on whether an appeal is the right option and how to proceed.

Andrew Ransome MRTPI Email: andrew@adpltd.co.uk | Tel: 01206 242070

About me

Andrew Ransome is the planning director at ADP and is a chartered member of the RTPI, with over 22 years of town planning experience.

Andrew has extensive experience offering strategic planning solutions to challenging projects in both rural and urban settings. Follow him on Linkedin.

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