# School House Barn, Circular Road, Seaview, Isle of Wight (pedestrian gateway)

- **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
- **Tags:** tier-2, highway-safety, manual-for-streets, conservation-area, ndha, transitional-no-consultation

## 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
- **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)

## Sources
- https://appeal-planning-decision.service.gov.uk/comment-planning-appeal/appeals/6009569
- https://appeal-planning-decision.service.gov.uk/published-document/364e35e0-897e-438b-a696-5943f0a5df70

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Source: https://planningdistilled.org/research/england/nppf-navigator/decisions/PINS-6009569.html

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