The Daily Decision Digest: 7 July 2026
AppealBase found 59 new appeal decisions for 7 July 2026, granting permission for up to 311 new dwellings – the selected decisions below turned on issues including five-year supply shortfalls, the tilted balance, grey belt and sustainable location tests, neighbourhood plan weight, heritage constraints, and the limits of PiP and technical details consent.
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North Hertfordshire: Inquiry allows 280 homes despite transport policy conflict
An inquiry allowed up to 280 dwellings at Royston, including affordable housing. The Inspector found conflict with the development plan because the site was outside the settlement boundary and would not provide adequate opportunity for non-car travel, but those harms were given minor weight. With housing supply at 2.6 years, significant weight was given to market and affordable housing, and mitigation was accepted for highway impacts and recreational pressure. (6004178)
South Oxfordshire: Hearing decision applies tilted balance to neighbourhood plan conflict
A hearing allowed up to 25 homes at Lewknor, despite conflict with the spatial strategy and the Lewknor Neighbourhood Plan. The Inspector found the “on the ground” harm would be limited, while the council’s 3.81-year housing land supply gave very significant weight to the delivery of new and affordable homes. The Inspector also considered that Framework paragraph 14 was not determinative because the neighbourhood plan did not contain housing allocations. (6005839)
North Lincolnshire: Six homes allowed in flood zone countryside
Outline permission was granted for up to six dwellings outside the settlement limit at New Holland. Although the scheme conflicted with countryside and spatial distribution policies, the Inspector found the harm modest given the site’s relationship to existing development and access to local facilities, bus services and a railway station. The tilted balance outweighed the development plan conflict. (6005455)
Cheshire East: Grey belt housing fails on Jodrell Bank World Heritage Site evidence
Permission in Principle for up to nine dwellings at Over Peover was dismissed. The Inspector found the site was grey belt and that the scheme would not be inappropriate development in the Green Belt, but the appellant had not provided sufficient heritage or technical evidence on the effect of radio-frequency interference on the Jodrell Bank Observatory World Heritage Site. (6007282)
Cheshire East: Rural employment loss outweighs nine-home benefit
Another Permission in Principle appeal in Cheshire East for nine dwellings was dismissed. The Inspector accepted that redevelopment of the previously developed Green Belt site would not be inappropriate, but found the site poorly located for access to services without a car and that the loss of an active rural employment site had not been justified by viability or marketing evidence. (6006245)
Basingstoke and Deane: Lapsed Permission in Principle prevents TDC
A technical details consent appeal for eight dwellings was dismissed because the underlying Permission in Principle had expired. The Inspector held that the six-month appeal period against the TDC refusal did not extend the statutory three-year life of the permission in principle, which had already ceased to have effect. (6004109)
Wealden: “HMO” scheme treated as 12 self-contained flats
A proposed 12-bedroom HMO at a former care home in Pevensey Bay was dismissed after the Inspector found the physical layout amounted to 12 self-contained flats. The private kitchen facilities were considered sufficiently comprehensive that communal living would be unnecessary and unlikely, bringing the scheme into conflict with space standards and affordable housing policy. (6005607)
Hackney: Upward extension prior approval fails on construction date
Prior approval for an additional storey providing 10 studio flats under Class AB of Part 20 of the GPDO was dismissed. The Inspector found the building was not capable of occupation or its intended mixed uses by 5 March 2018, so it fell outside the permitted development right. (6004208)
South Cambridgeshire: Custom-build scheme dismissed on heritage, ecology and flood evidence
An eight-unit custom-build proposal in Meldreth was dismissed. The Inspector gave only modest weight to the custom-build benefit because it was not secured by legal agreement, and found conflict arising from harm to the conservation area setting, ecological concerns around the River Mel corridor, inadequate living conditions for some future occupiers, and unresolved flood and drainage evidence. (6005285)
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