Permission granted on appeal for 53 homes in the Green Belt, in Chiswell Green, St Albans

A planning inspector found that very special circumstances existed for the residential development. Of particular note are the inspector's comments on housing supply:

"Quite simply, delivery and supply in this area is failing to meet national policy requirements by a significant margin, and, despite suggestions that there will at some point be a plan-led solution, there is little short-term prospect of that position changing."

"Given the parlous state of both housing land supply and delivery in this area, new housing does appear to be both so vanishingly rare and in such great need that the provision of it must attract significant weight. That the level of supply appears to have worsened with the passage of time during this appeal is also relevant. National policy is clear that failure in both supply and delivery engages policy mechanisms to restore supply and to achieve the Government’s objective of significantly boosting the supply of and delivering a sufficient supply of homes."

Anjoli Foster acted for the successful appellant.

The decision can be found here.