Appeal 6002200

The appeal is allowed and prior approval is granted under the provisions of Article 3(1) and Schedule 2, Part 3, Class Q of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 as amended (“the GPDO”) for one large dwelling up to 348sqm at [site address] at [site address] , [site address] , [site address] [postcode] , in accordance with application ref, 25/01829/PRIOR and the details submitted with it pursuant to Article 3(1) Schedule 2, Part 3, [name].2(1) of the GPDO. The approval is subject to the condition that the development must be completed within a period of 3 years from the date of this decision and subject to the additional conditions in the attached schedule.

The local authority found the proposed development to constitute permitted development under Class Q as it stood prior to 21 May 2024, subject to the prior approval of certain matters in [name].2. On the evidence before me, I have no basis to conclude otherwise. However, the local planning authority refused to grant prior approval because the dusk emergence survey of bat activity, as deemed necessary by the appellant’s Preliminary Bat Roost Assessment (PBRA) had not been carried out. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the local planning authority found that the development had the potential to harm bats, thus making the location or siting of the building impractical or undesirable to change from agricultural use to a use falling within Class C3 (dwellinghouses) of the Schedule to the Use Classes Order.

The Bat Survey Report (BSR) accompanying the appeal does not change the development in any way, and the parties have had an opportunity to comment on its findings. In having regard to established caselaw, no party would be prejudiced by me taking account of the BSR in the determination of the appeal. Consequently, the main issue in this appeal is the effect of the development on bat species.

The BSR and the earlier PBRA were carried out by appropriately licensed ecologists and recorded no bats roosting in the building or emerging from it during the survey period. They concluded that bats are likely to be absent from the building and no further surveys for bats are necessary. The local planning authority does not dispute their findings. On the evidence before me, I am satisfied that the development would not be expected to harm legally protected bat species. I therefore have no evidential basis to find it impractical or undesirable for the appeal building to change from agricultural use to a use falling within Class C3. No substantive evidence to the contrary has been submitted by any party.

The Council has recommended conditions to secure compliance with the mitigation and enhancement measures in the BSR, together with the provision of other ecological enhancements and a lighting strategy that takes account of bat activity in the area. [name] of the GPDO allows prior approval to be granted subject to conditions reasonably related to the subject matter of the prior approval. However, those conditions, although well intended and based on the advice of the ecologists, do not reasonably relate to any of the prior approval matters in Class Q, and therefore I have not imposed them.

The Council has advised that decisions refusing prior approval under Class Q due to effects on protected species have been upheld on appeal by Inspectors. Appeal APP/L3245/W/15/3004467 is quoted as an example. However, I am not aware of the full circumstances of that case, and it does not alter my conclusion that those conditions do not reasonably relate to the subject matter of any of the prior approval provisions.

The BSR sets out the law and advises what should be done by the appellant or a subsequent developer in the extremely unlikely event that a bat is discovered at any point during construction works, which is that all works must cease immediately and an ecologist be contacted. My decision would not override the law that protects bat species.

The appeal site is served by an existing access road from [site address] that is hard surfaced for the most part and shared with other properties. Large, agricultural vehicles and machinery are likely to have used the access road in connection with the extant use of the appeal site as an agricultural building. In that context it has not been substantiated that vehicles using the access in connection with the occupation of the proposed dwelling, including temporary construction vehicles and machinery, would be harmful to highway safety. No objection has been raised by the Local Highways Authority. The access road appeared to be in a reasonable state of repair from what I saw at my visit, and no substantive technical evidence to the contrary has been advanced. Its ongoing maintenance and repair are a private matter for the relevant parties.

Development under Class Q must be completed within a period of 3 years starting with the prior approval date. Therefore, it is unnecessary for me to duplicate that condition. [name] of the GPDO states that the development must be carried out, where prior approval is required, in accordance with the details approved by the local planning authority. In the interests of clarity, I have specified the approved drawings.

I am satisfied, given the extant use of the land that conditions securing investigation and remediation of any ground contamination, and foul and surface water drainage are reasonably related to the prior approval matters of contamination and flooding risks, and necessary to ensure safe occupation in those respects.

Given the presence of nearby homes and the extant approval for conversion to a dwelling of the adjacent agricultural building, it would be necessary for construction and demolition working hours to be restricted as a proxy for controlling the effects of such works on the living conditions of their occupants. This is reasonably related to the noise impacts of the development as a prior approval matter. In the interests of precision, I have omitted references to noisy work, which have not been defined.

Restricting working hours would also be expected to restrict the times at which construction vehicles arrive and leave. The baseline use of the appeal site would have reasonably involved the operation of agricultural vehicles and machinery, potentially early in the morning and late at night, generating some noise and disturbance. In that context, and given the scale of the development, it would be unnecessary to impose restrictions on the arrival or departure of construction vehicles.

For the reasons given above the appeal should be allowed and prior approval should be granted.

The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: PL-20; PL-21; PL-22; PL-23; and PL-24.

No development shall take place until: a) The application site has been subject to a detailed Phase 1 [name], to be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. b) The application site has been subject to a detailed scheme for the investigation and recording of contamination, based on the Phase 1 [name], and remediation objectives have been determined through risk assessment. The resulting Phase 2 Intrusive Site Investigation Report is to be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. c) A Remediation Method Statement containing proposals for the removal, containment or otherwise rendering harmless any contamination, based upon the Phase 2 Intrusive Site Investigation, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

The development shall not be occupied until the works specified in the approved [name] are complete and a [name] demonstrating compliance with the approved [name] has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

If, during development, any additional or unexpected contamination is identified, then remediation proposals for this material should be agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority before any works proceed and shall be fully implemented prior to first occupation of the development hereby approved.

No development, other than demolition, shall commence until a surface water drainage scheme for the site, based on sustainable drainage principles, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The scheme shall include where appropriate: a) Full calculations detailing the existing surface water runoff rates for the QBAR, 3.3% [name] (AEP) (1 in 30) and 1% AEP (1 in 100) storm events; b) Full results of the proposed drainage system modelling in the above referenced storm events (as well as 1% AEP plus climate change), inclusive of all collection, conveyance, storage, flow control and disposal elements and including an allowance for urban creep, together with an assessment of system performance; c) Detailed drawings of the proposed surface water drainage system, including levels, gradients, dimensions and pipe reference numbers; d) Details of the proposed attenuation and flow control measures; e) Site Investigation and test results to confirm infiltration rates; f) Temporary storage facilities if the development is to be phased; g) A timetable for implementation if the development is to be phased; h) Details of overland flood flow routes in the event of system exceedance, with demonstration that such flows can be appropriately managed on site without increasing flood risk to occupants; i) Details of the maintenance/adoption of the surface water drainage system; j) Measures taken to prevent pollution of the receiving groundwater and/or surface water. The scheme shall subsequently be implemented in full in accordance with the approved details prior to the occupation of any part of the development or in accordance with the implementation programme agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority.

No development shall take place until a scheme for the provision and implementation of foul water drainage has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The scheme shall subsequently be implemented in accordance with the approved details prior to the occupation of any part of the development or in accordance with an implementation programme agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority.

Demolition and construction works shall take place only between the hours of 08:00 to 18:00 on Monday to Friday, and 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturday, and shall not take place at any time on Sundays or on Bank or Public Holidays. End of schedule