# Land south of London Road, Rockbeare (Cranbrook edge)

- **Decision:** approved, 1 September 2026
- **Decided by:** Council planning committee: East Devon Planning Committee (in accordance with officer recommendation)
- **Authority:** East Devon (South West)
- **Application reference:** 26/0534/MOUT
- **Procedure:** committee
- **Development:** Outline, up to 105 dwellings (35% on-site + 15% off-site affordable), open space, allotments, SANGS
- **Homes:** 105
- **Site context:** open-countryside, settlement-edge, agricultural-land-BMV
- **Green Belt:** no
- **Housing land supply (years):** 3.5
- **Framework applied:** August 2026 NPPF
- **Determinative policies:** S5(1)(j)(i), S3, S6
- **Development plan policies:** East Devon Local Plan 2016 Strategy 3, 7, 8 (Green Wedge), Rockbeare Neighbourhood Plan 2018 Rock06, Rock07, emerging Local Plan SP06, OL05
- **Main issues:** S5(1)(j), neighbourhood plan conflict, green wedge, BMV
- **Tags:** s5-1-j, substantially-outweighed, neighbourhood-plan-conflict, s6-not-engaged, green-wedge, open-countryside, housing-shortfall, large-scheme

## Summary
Up to 105 homes on countryside and neighbourhood-plan Green Wedge land between Cranbrook and Rockbeare. The council has a 3.5-year supply. Officers approved under S5(1)(j), because the site adjoins the Cranbrook boundary and an allocated 800-home expansion area. They held that the 2018 Rockbeare Neighbourhood Plan no longer has S6 protection because it is more than five years old. The committee approved in line with the recommendation.

## Issues and findings
- **S5(1)(j): PASS.** "The site is located adjacent to the Built-Up Area Boundary of Cranbrook and adjacent to the Grange Expansion Area which is allocated for around 800 dwellings. As such, the site is physically well-related to Cranbrook" (Report, Principle).
- **S5(2) check.** "the development proposal would not fail to comply with one of the national decision-making policies which states that development proposals should be refused in specific circumstances … the site is not Green Belt" (Report, Principle).
- **Neighbourhood plan.** The NP "was made on 11 October 2018 … given its age and the Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, the proposal must be assessed in the context of the presumption" (Report, Principle). The site had been dropped from the Cranbrook Plan in 2019 "to reflect the principles of localism that underpinned the Neighbourhood Plan … At present however, the Neighbourhood Plan is more than five years old and therefore out of date" (Land use).
- **Location.** "around 1km from Cranbrook Town Centre, between 10m and 600m from existing bus stops … around 2.9km from Cranbrook Train Station" (Report, sustainability).

## Planning balance
S5(1). The benefits carry significant weight: housing, affordable housing, SANGS, 20% BNG and the new pedestrian/cycle link. Against them: conflict with the Green Wedge and countryside policies, loss of BMV land, and harm to a non-designated heritage asset. "the adverse impacts of the proposed development would not substantially outweigh the benefits".

## What made the difference
The neighbourhood plan's Green Wedge policy had kept the site out of the 2019 Cranbrook Plan. Seven years on, S6 no longer protects the plan, because it is over five years old and has no allocations. Its policies became ordinary development plan conflicts in an S5 balance. The relevant settlement was Cranbrook, the new town, not Rockbeare village.

## Transferable points
- A neighbourhood plan made more than five years ago falls outside S6, so its protective policies carry no presumption-level shield. They are weighed as plan conflicts in the S5 balance (Report, Principle).
- "Physically well-related" can be satisfied by adjacency to an allocated expansion area not yet built (Report, Principle).

## Policy findings
- **S5(1)(j)(i): pass.** 3.5-year supply; adjoins Cranbrook BUAB and allocated Grange Expansion Area (c.800 homes)
- **S6: not-engaged.** Rockbeare NP made Oct 2018 (more than five years old), so conflict with NP Green Wedge and development-limit policies does not trigger S6
- **TR3: pass.** c.1 km to Cranbrook town centre; bus stops 10-600 m (44/44A); station 2.9 km; new pedestrian/cycle link Rockbeare-Cranbrook
- **HE7: harm.** harm to setting of The Grange (non-designated), outweighed
- **N2: harm.** loss of Grade 3a BMV land
- **Strategy 8 Green Wedge: conflict.** meaningful gap between Cranbrook and Rockbeare retained, so no harmful coalescence

## Key facts
- Site previously removed from the Cranbrook Plan in 2019 in deference to the Rockbeare NP Green Wedge policy
- NP more than five years old, so S6 protection is lost
- 20% BNG; SANGS provided

## Sources
- https://democracy.eastdevon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=308&MId=2692
- https://democracy.eastdevon.gov.uk/documents/s31569/4.%2026.0534.MOUT.pdf
- https://democracy.eastdevon.gov.uk/documents/g2692/Printed%20minutes%2001st-Sep-2026%2010.00%20Planning%20Committee.pdf?T=1

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Source: https://planningdistilled.org/research/england/nppf-navigator/decisions/eastdevon-26-0534-MOUT.html

A summary of a public planning decision, written from the officer report. Not legal advice. © Planning Distilled. Released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): share and adapt freely, with credit to Planning Distilled. Quotations from decision letters, plans and the Framework remain the copyright of their publishers.