Rutland County Council will not contest an appeal aimed at overturning a decision made by its Planning and Licensing Committee to refuse an application for 75 new homes off Park Road, Ketton. 

Application 2020/0942/OUT was submitted by Vistry Homes Limited and determined by Rutland County Council on 13 July 2021. The application was refused because it was in open countryside and, at that time, the Council had a stable five-year housing land supply.

 Rutland's housing land supply has now reduced to approximately 4.1 years. The National Planning Policy Framework which guides all Local Planning Authorities states that planning permission should be granted unless the adverse impacts of doing so would significantly outweigh the benefits. This means planning applications are more likely to be approved in areas that do not have a five-year housing land supply.

Because Rutland's housing land supply has fallen below the five-year threshold and there are no other technical reasons for resisting this development, the Council has no grounds to contest the appeal that has been brought against its original decision by Vistry Homes.

This decision has been reached following legal advice from a specialist planning barrister and taking full account of the significant change in policy position since the original application was refused.

Councillor Edward Baines, Chair of Rutland County Council's Planning and Licensing Committee, said: "This has not been an easy decision, but it is the only one when we consider the current condition of Rutland's housing land supply. This also underlines the importance of developing a new Local Plan for Rutland as quickly as possible. People can expect to hear more about this in the coming weeks as we prepare for a public consultation around the issues that we, as a county, need to address through the Local Plan."

This comes as the consultation for a proposed 650 new homes in Barleythorpe closes, and 233 homes go up for sale just across the county boarder in Melton Mowbray.

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