Cales Farm, Broadlands Drive, Malvern (200 dwellings, reserved matters)

Decision

approved, 26 August 2026

Decided by

Council planning committee: Malvern Hills Southern Area Planning Committee (6-5)

Authority

Malvern Hills (West Midlands)

Application reference

M/25/01235/RM

Procedure

committee

Development

Reserved matters (access, appearance, landscaping, layout, scale) for up to 200 dwellings under outline M/23/01777/OUT

Homes

200

Site context

settlement edge

Green Belt

No

Framework applied

August 2026 NPPF

Determinative policies

N4(4), DP3, TR6(4)

Development plan policies

South Worcestershire Development Plan Review 2026 SWDPR28, SWDPR31, SWDPR34

Main issues

National Landscape setting; layout and landscape mitigation

Summary

Reserved matters for 200 Barratt homes at Cales Farm on the edge of Malvern, in views from the Malvern Hills National Landscape. The committee approved 6-5, in line with officers. The case is recorded mainly for how the switch to the new Framework was handled: a one-page update sheet converting paragraph numbers, which cited the wrong code for the Protected Landscape setting test.

Issues and findings

• Protected Landscape setting. Update sheet: "References to The National Landscape in the NPPF are now encapsulated within… Policy N5 Para 4 which states: '4. Development proposals within the setting of Protected Landscapes should be sensitively located and designed to avoid or minimise adverse impacts on the Protected Landscape.'" (Update, item 7, ¶7.2.31 & 7.2.33). The quoted text is N4(4). N5 is "Maintaining the character of the coast". The same evening's update for the Pendock solar item cited it correctly as N4 4.
• Framework change. "Although the relevant references in the NPPF have been updated there are no significant changes in the NPPF policies relevant to consideration of this application for Reserved Matters which would lead your officers to change their recommendation" (Update, item 7).

Planning balance

This was a reserved-matters balance. Layout, landscape mitigation and phasing were set against residual landscape impact seen from the Hills, with the principle already fixed by the outline.

What made the difference

The outline permission settled the principle. The narrow 6-5 vote shows members' unease about views from the Hills, but a reserved-matters refusal would have needed a detailed-design reason.

Transferable points

• Check the code in an officer's update sheet against the Framework text. Here the setting test was attributed to N5(4) when it is N4(4).
• "No significant changes" is the standard officer line for reserved matters decided in the first weeks after publication.

Policy findings

Policy codes are those of the National Planning Policy Framework (August 2026) unless a development plan is named.

Key facts

• Barratt West Midlands reserved matters for up to 200 homes; outline already granted
• The site is visible in elevated views from the Malvern Hills National Landscape about 290 m away; ward member referral
• The report was drafted pre-August; the update sheet converted paragraph references and said there were "no significant changes in the NPPF policies relevant to consideration of this application for Reserved Matters"
• Approved 6-5 in line with the officer recommendation

Related decisions

• malvern-M-25-01044-FUL

Sources

• moderngov.malvernhills.gov.uk
• moderngov.malvernhills.gov.uk
• moderngov.malvernhills.gov.uk

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.