Two occupancy planning conditions in Woodford Stroud

SF Planning Limited were engaged to assess and seek removal of two occupancy planning conditions limiting the use of a dwelling to persons employed or last employed in agriculture on a property in Woodford within Stroud District. Of particular interest was a further condition which limited the use of the property to workers on the adjacent farm – which itself had ceased to function as a farm enterprise in the late twentieth century. These two conditions effectively meant that the dwelling was uninhabitable.

The two conditions were demonstrated to be both unenforceable and inappropriate to the area. It was first demonstrated that the condition limiting occupancy to the adjacent defunct farm enterprise was impossible to fulfill and discordant with the provisions of the National Planning Practice Guidance. Secondly, through working in partnership with David James and Partners, it was demonstrated through a comprehensive marketing programme that there existed no demand for agricultural worker’s dwellings in this location.

Our Planning Statement demonstrated how Woodford had transcended from a predominantly agricultural locale in 1978 to an entirely commercial and residential settlement by 2020, and that therefore the applied conditions of the original permission were no longer relevant given the absence of agricultural enterprises which would create demand for an agricultural worker’s dwelling.