GraceMachin Planning & Property were instructed to assess a greenfield site within the village of Ragnall in Bassetlaw. Following instruction, GraceMachin recommended using a local architect based in Nottingham City Centre and a Highways Consultant to assess any potential constraints of the site.

In 2018 the application was submitted and refused by Bassetlaw Council, upon which we appealed the decision and applied for a full award of costs against the Council based upon their reasons for refusal. Following an intervening period of almost 10 months we recommended to the client that a duplicate application should be made, in part based upon a significant appeal decision in neighbouring Doncaster.

This appeal decision identified that because the Bassetlaw Local Plan predated the national planning policy framework it was clearly out of date and a re-submission could be supported at Officer level. After four weeks of the application being validated the application was approved under delegated powers and the appeal was withdrawn along with the application for costs.

This application identifies the need for careful and close monitoring of appeal decisions both in the local area and those of national significance.