South Downs National Park Authority (Winchester City Council): Dan Wilden is delighted to finally have gained planning consent for a new house at Itchen Abbas near Winchester and within the South Downs National Park. The approval is for a simple bungalow dwelling on a back garden site within the designated village boundary.
Unbelievably this applicaiton was submitted in December 2021 following positive pre-applicaiton advice. Unfortunately the Winchester City Council (dealing with the application on behalf of the National Park Authority) were slow dealing with the application (a generous way of saying the planning officer proceeded to ignore all attempts at contact by us for several months). Incredibly frustratingly, by the time the planners had decided they were ready to approve it they had received a new advice letter from Natural England effectively putting a hold on all new housing within the River Itchen catchment. This was due to advice that the Council now had to ensure the mitigation of the impact of new development on phosphates in the River Itchen. As there were no mitigation credits yet created for phosphates in this area, we had no real choice but for wait for the Council, the National Park or private landowners to create some. It was two frustrating years before our client was able to secure the phosphate credits needed to allow the Council to finally issue the approval.
If only the Council planners had acted promptly in the first place – this house would almost certainly have been long completed by now… It’s a reminder to all of us that planning will always be in a state of change, nothing is certain and we always have to be ready to adapt. Well there is always one certainty in planning – that is it never ever becomes easier to obtain planning permission only harder. And the advent of Biodiversity Net Gain now seems to have made it exponentially so. Best of luck to the Government with its house building target.