Land at Rogers Lane, Findon

Appeal 6006900 · South Downs National Park Authority · Planning Inspector · decided 18 September 2026 · dismissed

Permission in principle for a chalet style dwelling, outside any settlement boundary.

Case page

Cited in: 5. Walking routes and stations

Why this is cited. This appeal shows that a village's status does not make a site sustainable: Findon is a service village, but the site was reached along an unlit lane with no footway, and the inspector found that the development “would not be physically well related to the settlement of Findon”. It is the answer to reports that treat a village's category as evidence of a sustainable location.

Key points

Settlement: "The nearest settlement to the appeal site is Findon which is a service village" (¶15).
Route: an unlit lane with no footway, so "I consider the appeal site not to be well connected to Findon, and future occupiers would have a reliance on the private car" (¶15).
Conclusion: "future residents would likely be highly reliant on private cars for most journeys, irrespective of the precise distance. In this context the proposed development would not be physically well related to the settlement of Findon" (¶17).

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.