Developers are now able to go ahead with plans to build 65 flats on the former site of West Herts College’s Kings Langley campus, after a planning inspector overruled Three Rivers District Council (TRDC).
TRDC granted outline planning permission to developers, Bellway Homes, in 2019, but rejected their final plans last year, with the majority of the TRDC planning committee agreeing the flats would be an “overly dominant and prominent addition” to the area.
The majority of council officers also acknowledged that the 72 parking spaces that Bellway planned to provide would have been a shortfall of 53 spaces.
This decision has now been overruled by government planning inspector, William Cooper, who said in his report that he believed “the varied, fluid and quite dynamic character of the locality would endure” once the flats were built.
He also said the proposed complex would “hold its own” architecturally when compared with existing local buildings like Concept House and Pinnacle House.
Regarding parking concerns, the inspector said: “I do not underestimate local residents’ concerns about new development and parking capacity in the area.”
He went on to say that there were enough transport alternatives to driving for future residents, thanks to the nearby railway station, bus links to Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead and Watford, and cycling and public footpaths.
Mr William Cooper concluded: “The proposed development would adhere to the development plan as a whole and there are no other considerations which outweigh this finding. Accordingly, for the reasons given, the appeal succeeds.”
An application for an award of costs has been made by Bellway Homes against TRDC, which will be decided at a later date.
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