Forest Farm, Welford Road, Long Marston

26/01906/PIP · Stratford-on-Avon District Council · officer (delegated) · decided 22 September 2026 · granted

Permission in principle for one residential dwelling beside the Grade II listed Forest Farmhouse and Lyndon Cottage.

Cited in: 2. Heritage harm at Forest Farm; 3. The reason given for discounting CS.8

Why this is cited. The mistake: the report found harm to the setting of two listed buildings, conflict with HE6 and that the design would be contrary to the 1990 Act, then decided the case on the overall S4 balance alone. What should have happened: the harm should have been weighed against the public benefits as its own step under HE6(4) and HE4(2), given “considerable importance and weight” under HE6(3) and the section 66 duty, and only then carried into the S4 conclusion: the weighing step Ilmington carried out.

Key points

Harm: "the proposals will be highly detrimental to the dwelling's setting" (p.7); and "the design would be contrary to the statutory requirements of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) 1990 Act" (p.8).
CS.8: HE5 "provides a new set of criteria for assessments of the potential effects on development proposals on the significance of heritage assets which is not required within CS.8, I consider that CS.8 is materially inconsistent with the NDMPs of the Framework" (p.6). The report then finds "The development would fail to accord with CS.8 of the Core Strategy" (p.8) and counts that conflict as harm.
Conclusion: the harm "is afforded substantial adverse weight, this is in conflict with CS.8 of the Core Strategy and NDP Policy HA.1 and NDMP HE6" (p.10); one dwelling towards "the currently substandard housing land supply, which is afforded substantial positive weight" (p.10); and "the benefits of approving the scheme would not be substantially outweighed by any adverse effects" (p.10).
The report does not weigh the harm against public benefits under HE6(4). Its only reference to public benefits is in its quotation of neighbourhood plan policy HA.1.

Quotations are from the officer report, decision notice or appeal decision letter, with page (p.) or paragraph (¶) numbers. Read the decision itself for the full reasoning.

Summarised for the note on Stratford decisions under the August 2026 NPPF. Not legal advice. Back to the note.