Braintree District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Ors

For the purposes of para 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework, “isolated homes in the countryside” refers to homes which are physically remote from settlements, buildings or people. It does not mean homes isolated from services and facilities.

Para 55 must be interpreted objectively, by reference to its wording and context. Its purpose includes supporting the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable rural development. The presence of nearby dwellings may therefore prevent a proposed home from being isolated, even where access to services is poor. Planning inspectors retain responsibility for applying that policy in the planning balance.

The Council challenged under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 an Inspector’s decision allowing an appeal against refusal of planning permission for two detached dwellings at Blackmore End, Essex.

The site lay outside the village envelope and within the countryside. The Inspector accepted that the Council lacked a five-year housing land supply, treated relevant local policies as out of date, and concluded that the development was not harmful under para 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework because several dwellings were nearby.

The central issue was whether “isolated” meant physically remote from other homes and settlements, or remote from services and facilities.

1. Application dismissed. The Inspector had correctly interpreted and applied para 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
2. Policy statements must be interpreted objectively according to their language and proper context. The court must respect the planning expertise of an inspector and must not substitute its own planning judgment for that of the decision-maker. A decision letter should be read fairly and as a whole, by an informed reader, without excessive legalism.
3. The word “isolated” is not defined in the Framework. It bears its ordinary objective meaning: physically remote or far away from other places, buildings or people. The immediate context distinguishes rural communities, settlements and villages from the countryside. This indicates that the relevant distinction is primarily spatial and physical.
4. The policy context does not support restricting “isolated homes” to homes remote from services and facilities. Para 55 promotes sustainable rural communities, including their social dimension. A home near other dwellings may contribute to social sustainability even where local services are limited. The policy also recognises that development in one small village may support services in another, and that transport opportunities are more limited in rural areas.
5. The Council’s interpretation would add an impermissible gloss to para 55. The Inspector was entitled to find that dwellings on a road in a village, with homes immediately to the north, south and west, were not new isolated homes in the countryside. Poor accessibility by means other than the private car was a disadvantage, but did not alter that conclusion. The Inspector was also entitled to give weight to the modest economic activity likely to arise from the development and its occupants.

The judgment does not state any prior appellate history. The application was brought at first instance under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.