This site had laid vacant for 20 years and was subject to a number of previous permissions. However, over time planning policies are updated and can have significant consequences for unimplemented applications. In this case the Council accepted the loss of the care home facility due to the long period of vacancy and having a number of the local care homes identified to them.

Unit sizes in the new flats needed to be increased to account for minimum space standards. Affordable housing was secured by S106 agreement during the course of the application which negated the need for a deemed consent subject to signing a S106 Agreement and enabled a faster commencement of development. While the original property was not on the National Heritage List for England it was identified by the Council as a building of Local Architectural or Historic Interest (Locally Listed Building).

While this does not form afford any form of statutory protection, it is an important consideration in any planning application and the policy basis in the Local Plan for Listed Buildings and Locally Listed Buildings is very similar. As such it is very unlikely that a Council will allow the demolition of a Locally Listed Building unless there are exceptional circumstances for doing so.

We have challenged the Council’s assessments of Locally Listed Buildings and in certain circumstances identified that the wrong building was on the list.