Agenda with Maps and Applications (21Mb) - pdf - Selby District ...

2.6.1 Policies Y1, YH5, H1, H2 and H5 of the Regional Spatial Strategy set the overriding
sub area policy to which development of this nature should be directed and define
the provision and distribution of housing with the aim to manage and step up the
supply and delivery of housing.
2.6.2 Policy H2A of the Selby District Local Plan states that ’to ensure that the annual
house building requirement is achieved in a sustainable manner, applications for
residential development up to the end of 2006 will only be acceptable on previously
developed sites and premises within defined development limits, subject to the
criteria in policies H6 and H7 or on sites allocated for housing development. It
should be noted that although Policy H2A refers to 2006 it was intended to restrict
housing on non-allocated sites to sites that have been previously developed for the
life of the plan.
2.6.3 Paragraph 14 of the NPPF advises that at its heart is a presumption in favour of
sustainable development, which should be seen as a golden thread running through
both plan making and decision taking. It goes on to set out what this means for
decision making stating the Local Planning Authorities should approve development
proposals that accord with the development plan without delay and where the
development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out of date granting
permission unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and
demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this
framework taken as a whole, or specific policies in this framework indicate
development should be restricted.
2.6.4 Paragraph 49 of the NPPF states that housing applications should be considered in
the context of the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
2.6.5 The application site is currently occupied by a series of steel frame barns and stone
outbuildings, which are used in association with the adjacent Second Pinfold Farm.
2.6.7 Annex 2 of the NPPF provides a definition of what constitutes previously developed
land stating that “Previously-developed land is that which is or was occupied by a
permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land and any
associated fixed surface infrastructure but excludes land that is or has been
occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings”.
2.6.8 According to this definition the application site does not constitute previously
development land. The proposal would therefore result in the development of a
Greenfield Site, and as such the proposal to develop is contrary to policy H2A of the
Selby District Local Plan.
2.6.9 Policy H2A is however considered to be out of date when viewed in the context of
the NPPF, Paragraph 49 of which states that housing applications should be
considered in the context of the presumption in favour of sustainable development,
without mentioning any presumption in favour of developing previously developed
sites in preference to Greenfield sites.
2.6.10 The application site is located within the village development limit of Fairburn, a
settlement that has been identified in Policy H6 of the Selby District Local Plan as
being capable of accommodating additional housing development given its
sustainable location in terms of access to goods, services and employment. Having
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