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Reuben Taylor KC has assisted in a successful appeal against the refusal of planning permission for a food store and 46 residential units on land at Wates Way, Ongar Road, Brentwood, Essex. The Council, advised by Essex County Council, refused planning permission on the basis of the highways impact of the proposed development. In particular, it was alleged that a four stage traffic signalise junction at the site access was necessary for highway safety reasons. ECC maintained that if such a signalised junction were implemented it could cause significant congestion and severe impact upon the network. The Council also refused planning permission on the basis of adverse air quality impacts and whether the site access could be delivered given the location of utility services within the road.
The Inspector dismissed each of ECC’s safety concerns and concluded that the proposed development with a three stage signalised junction would not give rise to an unacceptable impact on highway safety and no conflict with the NPPF or the development arose in this regard.
The Inspector then went on to accept the developer’s case that, whilst the introduction of traffic signals in place of an existing mini-roundabout at the proposed site access would inevitably cause some delay, the impact of the development upon the network would not be severe. In so concluding he rejected ECC’s contention that the impact should be assessed on the basis of an assumption that 70% of traffic would be new to the network, preferring to adopt the suggested 30% assumption advocated by the developer.
The Inspector concluded that the proposed development would not compromise the achievement of air quality targets and would not present an unacceptable risk of exposure to air pollution.
He also went on to conclude that there was no policy basis for the Council’s refusal of permission in relation to the lack of proof of deliverability of the scheme in relation to utility apparatus: “it seems to me that whether or not a development is deliverable or not is a risk taken by the developer.”
The developer obtained an order for a partial award of costs in relation to the air quality and deliverability grounds of refusal.
Reuben Taylor KC was instructed by Marcin Koszyczarek of Rapleys and he called Jim Budd of SCP Transport to give the highways evidence on behalf of the developer.
The appeal decision may be accessed here.
