Planning condition removed to enable affordable housing scheme at Thaxted to progress

CTPL has recently been successful in securing the removal of a planning condition requiring the widening of an existing footway that fronts a small affordable housing development at Thaxted, Essex following an application under Section 73 of the Town & Country Planning Act, 1990 (as amended) to Uttlesford District Council (UDC). The original permission for just 4 no. affordable dwellings at Bardfield Road, Thaxted required a new 2 metre wide footway to replace an existing 1.2 metre wide footway over a distance of 135 metres. The cost of this threatened the viability of the scheme by English Rural Housing Association and Thaxted Community Land Trust. CTPL successfully argued that the condition was not necessary and therefore did not meet the tests for the imposition of conditions set out in the National Planning Policy Framework and Planning Practice Guidance. UDC therefore granted permission under Section 73 without the condition, enabling the scheme to be progressed without this unjustifiable and disproportionate burden.