White House Report Template

Planning Appraisal Report
Land between „The Slades‟ and „Cymru‟ on Starkey‟s Lane,
Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire
On behalf of Mr J Smith
June 2010
0101/01
© Whitehouse Planning 2010

Appraisals for Town and
Country Planning Applications
PLANNING APPRAISAL REPORT
LAND OFF STARKEY‟S LANE, WHEATON ASTON
On behalf of Mr J Smith
June 2010
Author C Whitehouse BSc (Hons) Planning and Development Surveyor
Report Status Final
Date of Issue April 2010
DISTRIBUTION
Date Issued To: Name No.
June 2010 Whitehouse Planning File Copy 1
June 2010 Mr J Smith Client Copy 1
Privileged and confidential information may be contained within this report. This report is for reference
and advice purposes only and should not be considered as a representation made in relation to any
N.B planning application. Whitehouse Planning accepts no liability for the content of this report or for the
consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.
Please reply to: 24 Pillaton Drive, Telephone +44 (0) 7976 799 786
Huntington, mail@whitehouseplanning.co.uk
Staffordshire WS12 4UU
CONTENTS
Section Subject Page No
i Front Page 1
ii Author and Disclaimer Information 2
iii Contents 3
1 Situation and Description of the Site and Surroundings 4
Dwg 1: Location Plan 5
Dwg 2: Site Plan 6
2 National and Local Planning Policies 7
Dwg 3: Wheaton Aston Development Plan Boundary 9
3 Environmental Factors considered for the site 10
Dwg 4: Environmental Plan 11
4 Potential Development Options and Success Rating 12
5 How the Planning Process works 14
6 Costs of Planning Permission for the Development Options 16
7 Conclusions 17
8 Where next? 17
1.0 INTRODUCTION
READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLANS 0101/01: LOCATION PLAN & 0101/02: SITE
PLAN
This report has been prepared on behalf of Mr J Smith to provide analysis relating to the
development opportunities for land off Starkey‟s Lane, Wheaton Aston. The report will
discuss the potential to gain planning permission for the land in question; the likelihood of
success in relation to specific indentified development; and an idea of the costs and processes
involved in making the planning application.
1.1 Site Description and Location
The application site is situated on land at Starkey‟s Road, a secondary village road directly to
the east of Long Street (High Street) that runs through Wheaton Aston village centre. See
attached Location Plan 0101/01.
1.2 The site is surrounded on its northern and western boundaries by a mixture of detached two
storey residential dwellings and a commercial unit. The south is bounded by Lapley Road,
which provides links to the A5 and connects Cannock and Telford. The east of the site is
bounded by a small field, with two storey residential dwellings 260m away to the other side
of the field. See attached Site Plan 0101/02.
1.3 The existing site is located 10 m away from Long Street which has bus routes connecting
Stafford and Wolverhampton. The 880 bus service runs four times daily along Long Street
and the A5 and connects Stafford and Codsall with Wolverhampton.
1.4 The site is located within a local service village area approximately 7 miles west of Cannock
and 9 miles north of Wolverhampton, both which offer a wide range of shops and services.
1.5 The application site consists of an irregular shaped parcel of land approximately 0.12ha in
size. It consists of a fenced redundant parcel of grassland with access off Starkey‟s Lane via a
gate and mature hedge and trees to the northern boundary.
1.6 The site is bordered directly by two dwellings to the west known as “Fern Cottage” and “The
Slades”. It is located within an area predominately consisting of detached two storey
residential houses.
2.0 NATIONAL AND LOCAL PLANNING POLICY
READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLAN 0101/03: WHEATON ASTON DEVELOPMENT

BOUNDARY
2.1 The site will be directly affected by both national and local planning policy which in
combination will be used together by a local planning authority case officer to make any
planning decision.
2.2 National Planning Policy Guidance is provided by the government in the form of statements,
to work as a general template that a case officer will use as a basis of his decision. Whilst the
policies are not specific to a local area they provide the standard roars from which all local
policies will be set. In some cases by local policies do not appear to exist on certain subjects
national policy will be used in context on the land to make a decision.
2.3 Local planning policy is provided by local planning authorities within councils, providing an
area specific set of rules and regulations to determine both potential development and
planning application decisions. Local planning policies will make up the majority of any
decision taken by case officer at local authority level for any planning application.
National Planning Policy
Local Planning Policies
Local Development Frameworks Adopted Local Plans
2.4 Planning Policies provide a complex network of regulations and policies that differ from local
area to local area; therefore no planning application however similar in a practical sense will
be the same in differing districts.
2.5 Planning Policy for Starkey’s Lane
The Starkey‟s Lane site is located within the boundary of South Staffordshire District Council
(SSDC), and therefore any planning decision on the site will come from a SSDC Planning
Case Officer.
2.6 South Staffordshire Council Adopted Local Plan 2011 will continue to provide pre-dominant
planning policies for any planning application in this area for the next two years. Any
application made from 2012 onwards will be subject to the planning policies of the local
development framework which is being formulated at the present time. The policies of the
local plan will be supplemented by national policy where appropriate.
2.7 Starkey’s Lane Specific Planning Policies
In this instance the most relevant planning policies can be listed as:
South Staffordshire Council Adopted Local Plan 2011
o Policy OC1 Open Countryside: the site falls just outside of the Wheaton Aston Development
Boundary (see Boundary Plan 0101/03) as set by SSDC and falls within the local plan
policies of the Open Countryside. This restricts types and sizes of development means
that any planning application put forward will generally need to show a stronger
justification for that particular development to go ahead.
o Policies H16-19 Housing: any potential development will need to show that the designers
of the development have paid particular attention to the treatment of the building and the
spaces between the building; taken into consideration the type of designing character
found in buildings within its immediacy; and does not have a harmful effect cause
through increased traffic, disturbance, overlooking and/or loss of privacy.
2.8 National Policies
o PPS1 – Delivering Sustainable Development: concerns the use of designing and

delivering development that is of high quality and improves the quality of the area.
o PPS3 – Housing: the specific factors that should be taken into consideration when
deciding if a housing development, whether singular or of large-scale, is of high standard
and in a market where it will be most effective to meet housing targets of the local
councils.
o PPG13 - setting out guidance on traffic, highways, car parking and the effects on public
transport, walking and cycling.
2.9 Starkey‟s Lane is fortunate in the sense that it is for the most part dictated by a single set of
planning regulations (Open Countryside Regulations) which reduces the need to extensively
research and cover multifaceted policies within any supporting statement provided as part of
a planning application. This will have a positive effect on any proposed budget to undertake
the work.
2.10 However, the singular regulation that it does have to abide by is restrictive in the context of
proposing differing types of development due to the size location outside of the local
development boundary. This will mean that stronger arguments will have to be put forward
to justify any planning permission being granted on the site. This will have a negative effect
on any proposed budget to undertake work.
3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLAN 0101/04: ENVIRONMENTAL MAP
3.1 The impact of proposed development on the environment is becoming more of a

fundamental consideration by planning officers would make a decision by the day. The
impact of any development on wildlife, the landscape, flooding, archaeology and any
statutory designation such as a National Park or Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) will
need be treated like so.
1) Does the development have a direct impact on any aspects of the environment?
2) If it does, has it been considered in the application?
3) How is it being considered; has the application provided adequate protection measures?
3.2 Environmental Considerations for Starkey’s Lane
o Ecology and Habitats - the site in the main would have no detrimental impact upon
ecological habitats and wildlife on site; however during any development in Shenzhen
and initial sweeping assessment of this I will be needed to make sure that no
unexpected/undisturbed ecological habitat exists.
o Archaeology- due to the site's undisturbed nature it is considered highly unlikely that
any archaeological remains would exist on or near the site.
o Flood risk- the site is located less than 50 m away from the Shropshire Union Canal;
which has a direct effect on flood risk to land directly south of the site in question.
However given the higher nature of the land in this respect, the residential development
situated between the canal and the site, flood risk is negligible and does not need to be
assessed.
o Trees - a fairly substantial tree and hedgerow conurbation is located on the northern
boundary of the site. In order to reduce the impact upon this conurbation it will be
important to assess the access points to the development site to reduce the number of
trees on it felled. Importantly though, none of the trees located in or around the boundary
of site are protected.
o Statutory designation - the nearest national nature reserve to the site is located 2.5km to
the south and the nearest National Monument is located less than 1 km to the west. In
this regard therefore no statutory designation will have detrimental impact to
development on the site.
o Geology - the site does not sit within an area that has been identified as containing a
geological mix that merits investigation.
4.0 POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS
4.1 Assessment of Development
Given the sites location outside of the local village development boundary and its reliance
upon being able to “tick all the boxes” of more restrictive to open countryside policy; the
development potential of the site can be easily identified as follows:
4.2 Development option one:
Single residential dwelling
Success Rating:
Summary: given the sites location, situated between two residential properties, and outside
of the development boundary, the most likely chance of success the development consists
with the development of single glowing with ancillary car parking and garage. The general
character of the surrounding properties in the village itself consists of large footprint, low-
density housing, mainly for 4-5 bedrooms with large garden areas. Providing that the
planning application shows that the site is merely “infilling” a parcel of land that has no other
merits to it, an application for a five bedroom family home is achievable.
Any potential residents development would probably have two relates to be fairly strict
design protocol of villages within Staffordshire. In this instance the use of red bricks and
Staffordshire clay tile roofs would be essential.
4.3 Development Option two:
Two semi-detached dwellings
Success Rating:
Summary: a planning application to construct a pair of semi-detached houses would be a

riskier approach as the site sits outside the main development boundary and a stronger
justifiable argument would be needed to suggest that two compact dwellings would be more
appropriate in an area that is not outlined to accept residential housing for the most part.
Two fairly compact three bedroom dwellings could be achievable in the site, however the
impacts upon access out of Starkey's Lane, writes to light up the residential neighbours to the
west in general impact on the landscape would need to be proven to be mitigated against. To
prove that these environment factors have been covered would be an expensive procedure
and one I consider generally on viable for development of this kind.
4.4 Development Option three:
Commercial Development
Success Rating:
Summary: a planning application to any commercial development would initially seem to be

unviable by virtue of its character and location. Any commercial developments would need
to be proven to be providing a business service that could not be achieved within the centre
of the village development boundary, and given the compact nature of the site and
surrounding residential amenity this would appear to be non-existent. I would therefore
recommend that commercial development is not investigated.
5.0 HOW THE PLANNING PROCESS WORKS
5.1 Making a planning application can be a complex and frustratingly procedure undertaken
half-heartedly and without the right line argument. Planning applications have to be made
through representations to the local planning authority; this can be done online via the
planning Portal or through this submission of hard copies of the relevant reports.
5. 2 Most planning applications will consist of a minimum of the following:
o A supporting statement - this report or state or the application proposes, how it plans to
do it in a line of argument it is taking to support the application. The statement will refer
to the relevant planning policies that it has had to take into consideration together with
the relevant assessment of environmental factors.
o A design and access statement - the statement accesses the impact of the proposed
development on the wider character of its location. It assesses what design criteria need
to be taken into consideration for the proposed building/s and the potential impact it
could have on the wider environment.
o Architectural drawings - all applications for proposed development of buildings need to

provide drawings that assess the building design, its situation within the land, the site
location and boundaries and the exterior and interior detailing.
5.2 The planning process for Starkey’s Lane
1) An agreement will need to put in place with a surveyor or planner who will
undertake the drafting of the supporting and design and access statements for the
agreed development proposal.
2) Architectural drawings will need to be instructed and detailing agreed between the
architects and the client. The architects may request that a topographic survey be
undertaken in order to assess the levels within this site. This is dependent on the
architect‟s confidence in delivering the drawings from the topographic levels
available on ordnance survey maps.
3) The planner or surveyor will need between four and six weeks to draft, edit and
finalise the supporting statement and design and access statement. He will then
gather the architectural drawings and include them within the planning application.
4) The planning application will be submitted electronically via the Planning Portal or
through hard copies of the application that will be sent to South Staffordshire District
Council. A planning application fee will need to be paid at this point.
5) South Staffordshire District Council will appoint a case officer for the application and
provide the client with a planning reference number in order to follow the outcome
of the application online.
6) The case officer will assess the merits of the application by reading and commenting
on the statements submitted together with the drawings, whilst he will open a three
week consultation period in which relevant consultees such as the Parish Council and
the Environment Agency will be contacted for their opinions.
7) The case of some other make a decision based upon his opinions and the outcome of
the consultation advice. The timeframe from the submission of the application to the
case officer making a decision will not be less than seven weeks and in most cases not
more than 10 weeks.
8) Planning permission in most cases will be granted subject to conditions. The list of
conditions provided will need to be met when the structure of the development
commences. Should the application be rejected, the client will have 12 weeks in which
to submit an appeal. This can be a costly exercise and can only be budgeted for on the
outcome of the planning decision.
6.0 COSTS OF THE PLANNING APPLICATION
6.1 Making a planning application will vary depending on the type of application and a
surveyor/planner and architect in structured to undertake the job. However from my
extensive experience in the trade I provide below a maximum cost breakdown that you
should be looking to pay for the itemised elements of work needed for the application.
6.2 Starkey’s Lane
Recommended Development Option:
Single 5 bedroom dwelling
Costs:
o pre-application advice, discussion and negotiation with the local planning authority: £500
o production of Supporting Statement and Design and Access Statement: £ 3000
o project management of the application: £500
o Architectural Drawings: £2000
o potential topographic surveys at architects discretion: £800
o the planning application fee (made payable to South Staffs District Council): £335
o Total Estimated Cost: £ 7,135
6.3 It must be noted that in most cases the proposed budget for the work exclude VAT, printing
and postage, purchase of any mapping data and site visits if they are confirmed to be
necessary for photos/inspection etc.
6.4 Budgets also generally do not include post submission costs. As planning applications can
vary during the post-submission/planning authority consultation stage, it is generally
considered sensible to work on an hourly basis from the point of submission to the planning
decision. Simply put, post submission work could consist of 2 hours work or 20 hours work,
and it is unfair on the client to put a figure on this element of work.
7.0 CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Site Potential
In this instance, should be most viable development option be proposed within a planning
application it stands a good chance of achieving planning permission. This judgement is
made on the basis that the arguments relating to the open countryside, “Infilling”, and
environmental factors are all considered in any application.
The application would need to consider the use of redbrick and Staffordshire clay tile roofs as
is common in Wheaton Aston and make sure that the dwelling was situated in a position on
site where it would have the lowest detrimental impact upon its neighbours, the character of
East Wheaton Aston and the landscape.
Given the relatively simple nature of the application in this instance, a strong supporting
statement together with a design and access statement and the relevant drawings should
provide enough to secure planning position providing all the arguments are justified.
Any other type of development on the site would be considered unlikely to achieve planning
permission by virtue of its location in relation to the development boundary of Wheaton
Aston, the tight nature of the site boundary and be predominantly residential footprint in the
immediate area.
7.2 I would overall recommend that a planning application for a single dwelling on the land at
Starkey‟s Lane could be successful in providing the steps I have issued are undertaken and
the surveyor/planner who undertakes the work has a shrunk working knowledge of open
countryside policies.
8.0 WHERE NEXT?
The next port of call to step for the process of undertaking the planning application would be
to contact a chartered surveyor/planner who is prepared to undertake the work. Given the
relatively small nature of the application proposal, it is recommended a local business with a
working knowledge of the area would be the most economical people to work with. If they
have a close relationship with an architect this will be a further economic benefit to the
budgetary constraints of the application.
In this instance my parent company, Halletec Environmental Ltd, would be more than happy
to provide you with a quote to undertake the work, given our working knowledge of the local
planning process and the area itself.
We can be contacted by Telephone: (01630) 698 035
Email: c.whitehouse@halletec.co.uk
Web: www.halletec.co.uk
HALLETEC ENVIRONMENTAL LTD CAN OFFER A 15% DISCOUNT ON THE BUDGETS

PROPOSED FOR THE WORK IN THIS REPORT.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE DISCOUNT BY QUOTING THE REPORT REFERENCE

NUMBER PROVIDED BY WHITEHOUSE PLANNING WHEN CONTACTING US.
www.halletec.co.uk
c.whitehouse@halletec.co.uk
(01630) 698 035

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Planning Appraisal Report

Land between „The Slades‟ and „Cymru‟ on Starkey‟s Lane,

Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire

© Whitehouse Planning 2010

PLANNING APPRAISAL REPORT

LAND OFF STARKEY‟S LANE, WHEATON ASTON

Author C Whitehouse BSc (Hons) Planning and Development Surveyor

Report Status Final

Date of Issue April 2010

Date Issued To: Name No.

June 2010 Whitehouse Planning File Copy 1

June 2010 Mr J Smith Client Copy 1

Section Subject Page No

ii Author and Disclaimer Information 2

1 Situation and Description of the Site and Surroundings 4

Dwg 1: Location Plan 5

Dwg 2: Site Plan 6

2 National and Local Planning Policies 7

Dwg 3: Wheaton Aston Development Plan Boundary 9

3 Environmental Factors considered for the site 10

Dwg 4: Environmental Plan 11

4 Potential Development Options and Success Rating 12

5 How the Planning Process works 14

6 Costs of Planning Permission for the Development Options 16

1.1 Site Description and Location

2.0 NATIONAL AND LOCAL PLANNING POLICY

READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLAN 0101/03: WHEATON ASTON DEVELOPMENT

National Planning Policy

Local Planning Policies

Local Development Frameworks Adopted Local Plans

2.5 Planning Policy for Starkey’s Lane

2.7 Starkey’s Lane Specific Planning Policies

South Staffordshire Council Adopted Local Plan 2011

2.8 National Policies

o PPS1 – Delivering Sustainable Development: concerns the use of designing and

3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH PLAN 0101/04: ENVIRONMENTAL MAP

3.1 The impact of proposed development on the environment is becoming more of a

2) If it does, has it been considered in the application?

3.2 Environmental Considerations for Starkey’s Lane

4.0 POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS

4.1 Assessment of Development

4.2 Development option one:

Single residential dwelling

4.3 Development Option two:

Two semi-detached dwellings

Summary: a planning application to construct a pair of semi-detached houses would be a

4.4 Development Option three:

Summary: a planning application to any commercial development would initially seem to be

5.0 HOW THE PLANNING PROCESS WORKS

5. 2 Most planning applications will consist of a minimum of the following:

o Architectural drawings - all applications for proposed development of buildings need to

5.2 The planning process for Starkey’s Lane

6.0 COSTS OF THE PLANNING APPLICATION

6.2 Starkey’s Lane

Recommended Development Option:

Single 5 bedroom dwelling

o production of Supporting Statement and Design and Access Statement: £ 3000

o project management of the application: £500

o Architectural Drawings: £2000

o potential topographic surveys at architects discretion: £800

o Total Estimated Cost: £ 7,135

7.1 Site Potential