- Decision
- allowed, 28 August 2026
- Decided by
- Planning Inspector: R Cahalane
- Authority
- Isle of Wight (South East)
- Appeal reference
- 6009569
- Application reference
- 25/01462/FUL
- Procedure
- written representations
- Development
- Pedestrian gateway in a historic stone wall onto Circular Road and external alterations to the west elevation, closing a substandard door onto High Street (Appeal A; linked s73 Appeal B 6009573)
- Site context
- inside settlement, conservation area, listed building setting
- Green Belt
- No
- Framework applied
- August 2026 NPPF
- Determinative policies
- TR6
- Development plan policies
- Isle of Wight Core Strategy 2012 DM2, DM17, Seaview Conservation Area Appraisal 2007
- Main issues
- highway safety
Summary
The planning-permission half (Appeal A) of the Seaview gateway appeals; see PINS-6009573 for the full distillation. A new gate onto low-speed Circular Road, replacing a door directly onto the busier High Street, was a "minor betterment" to highway safety (DL ¶21), and the small loss of wall fabric preserved the conservation area. Allowed.
Issues and findings
- Transition. The new policies "do not substantially alter the policies in the previous Framework relevant to the main issue of this appeal" (DL ¶7).
- Highway safety. "replacing the existing High Street access with the proposed gated access off Circular Road would provide a minor betterment to highway safety" (DL ¶21). "There is thus no conflict with the Framework in this respect" (DL ¶22).
- Heritage. The character and appearance of the wall and the CA "would therefore be preserved" (DL ¶29).
What made the difference
The net comparison with the existing, worse access.
Transferable points
- Highway safety is judged on the net change against the existing access (DL ¶21-22).
Policy findings
Policy codes are those of the National Planning Policy Framework (August 2026) unless a development plan is named.
| Policy | Finding | Weight | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| TR6 | pass | mapped - swapping the High Street door for the Circular Road gate is a minor betterment; no unacceptable impact on highway safety; minor DM2 conflict for the gate alone (DL 16, 21-22) | |
| HE9 | pass | small loss of NDHA wall fabric; CA preserved (s72) (DL 26-29) | |
| HE6 | pass | setting of Grade II Alton House Shirley Cottage not harmed (s66) (DL 30) |
Key facts
- Joint letter with s73 Appeal B 6009573, which holds the fuller distillation (DL 5)
- Circular Road 85th percentile 13-15.4 mph; High Street 14.6-17.8 mph with several times the traffic (DL 11, 19-20)
- DMRB CD 143 1.5 m X-distance given very little weight on a non-trunk road (DL 8-9)
- Parties not consulted on the 2026 Framework (DL 7)
Related decisions
Sources
This note is one of the decisions behind the NPPF 2026 Navigator, which shows how each Framework test has been applied across all the decisions in the database. Also available as Markdown.