Land off Oakdene Crescent, Hatton, Warwick

Appeal 6006637 · Warwick District Council · Planning Inspector, after a hearing · decided 23 September 2026 · dismissed

Redevelopment of the site and erection of 28 residential dwellings, in the Green Belt, about 350 m from Hatton railway station.

Case page · Decision letter

Cited in: 5. Walking routes and stations; 6. Reports written under the 2024 Framework

Why this is cited. This appeal is the closest analogue for section 5. A site only 350 m from a railway station still failed, because the route “cannot reasonably be regarded as providing a safe route for all users” and the station was not a “well-connected station” under Annex B. It also applied the 2026 Framework to an appeal already under way (section 6). It shows location is decided on the quality of the route, not on nearness to a station, and that existing use alone does not show a route is safe.

Key points

Station: "the station does not meet the Framework's definition of a 'well-connected station'" (¶18).
Route: "I also accept that the absence of continuous footways does not automatically render Station Road unsuitable for pedestrian use. Nonetheless … Station Road cannot reasonably be regarded as providing a safe route for all users, particularly pedestrians" (¶24).
Observed use: "it is likely that at least some journeys arise out of necessity rather than choice. In such circumstances, the recorded levels of activity do not demonstrate that the route is universally perceived as safe" (¶26).
Framework: it "was published three days before the Hearing" (¶2), and the inspector was "I am suitably content that the parties had sufficient opportunity to familiarise themselves with its provisions" (¶2).

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.