DEVASSIST: Inspector Approves 75-home Scheme on Former School Playing Fields Amid Housing Land Shortfall

A planning inspector has allowed a revised application for 75 homes on the former Friends School playing fields in Saffron Walden, Essex, noting Uttlesford District Council’s housing land supply of just 3.46 years.

The decision comes ten months after an earlier, larger scheme for the same site was refused due to harm to the Saffron Walden Conservation Area.

Chase New Homes first sought consent in 2024 for 91 dwellings on the 6.7-hectare site, with 37 affordable units. That application was considered directly by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) after Uttlesford District Council was placed in ‘special measures’ in 2022 for poor decision-making performance.

In her November 2024 decision, inspector Zoe Raygen found the proposals would “fail to preserve the character and appearance of the Saffron Walden Conservation Area” and therefore “would conflict” with both the district local plan and neighbourhood plan. Despite the delivery of affordable housing and public access to green space, she concluded that the harm to heritage assets outweighed the benefits.

A revised scheme was submitted in May 2025, reducing the total to 75 homes, including 30 affordable units (40%). The updated plans also proposed 146 new trees (up from 101) and 182 parking spaces (compared to just 30 previously).

Although the council was removed from special measures in June 2025, the revised application was still determined by PINS, as it had been lodged before the de-designation date.

In his decision notice, inspector Grahame Kean said the latest proposals represented a “significant improvement in terms of its design and layout as regards the effect on the character and appearance of the area, including the conservation area”.

He concluded: “The proposal would therefore preserve or enhance the significance of the conservation area” in line with local, neighbourhood and national planning policy.

Kean noted that the council’s housing delivery had been consistently below requirement levels, with a 3.46-year land supply and a 2023 housing delivery test score of 46% – far below the government’s 75% threshold. As a result, the National Planning Policy Framework’s tilted balance was applied, rendering housing supply policies out of date and giving greater weight to housing delivery.

Kean stated that while the scheme conflicted with “some policies”, “when read as a whole, the proposal would accord with the development plan. He placed “great significance” on the contribution of “much-needed market and affordable housing” and concluded that the benefits outweighed any adverse impacts.

Permission was therefore granted subject to conditions.

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