# Hollow Meadow, Lower End, Priors Hardwick

- **Decision:** approved, 1 September 2026
- **Decided by:** Council officer (delegated): SDC delegated (report with twin LBC 26/00899/LBC)
- **Authority:** Stratford-on-Avon (West Midlands)
- **Application reference:** 26/00898/FUL
- **Procedure:** delegated
- **Development:** Subdivision of a Grade II listed dwelling into two dwellings with minor external alterations
- **Homes:** 1
- **Site context:** open-countryside, listed-building-setting
- **Green Belt:** no
- **Housing land supply (years):** 2.21
- **Framework applied:** August 2026 NPPF
- **Determinative policies:** S5(1)(c), S5(1)(j), Transitional(2)
- **Development plan policies:** Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy 2016 CS.15, CS.16, CS.20, AS.10
- **Main issues:** principle outside settlement, reuse of building
- **Tags:** s5-1-c-reuse, s5-1-j, materially-inconsistent-very-limited-weight, housing-shortfall, listed-building, small-scheme, stratford-relevant

## Summary
Subdividing a listed house in Priors Hardwick, a small village with no settlement boundary, into two dwellings. It conflicted with the Core Strategy on location. Granted on 1 September 2026 under S5(1)(c) (reuse of an existing building) and S5(1)(j) (unmet need), with the Core Strategy locational policies given very limited weight.

## Issues and findings
- **Development plan.** "Being in an unsustainable location, residential use is not acceptable in principle and as such the proposal would conflict with CS.20" (Report p.4).
- **S5(1)(c).** "NDMP S5.1, Part C accepts the reuse of an existing building, provided that it is of permanent and substantial construction, is lawful in planning terms, and any extension or alteration will not result in a disproportionate increase in size … I consider the development proposed here complies" (p.5).
- **S5(1)(j).** "The Council can demonstrate 2.21 years of housing land supply and I am therefore satisfied that there is an evidenced unmet need" (p.5).
- **Balance.** "The development proposed here meets with NDMP S5.1, C (reuse of existing building) and J (evidenced unmet need)", and the benefits were not substantially outweighed (pp.8–9).

## Planning balance
S5(1): substantial weight to one dwelling against very limited weight to the policy conflicts.

## What made the difference
S5(1)(c) is a clean fit for subdivision of an existing dwelling. A location that the Core Strategy calls "unsustainable" does not prevent approval under S5 once the locational policies are given very limited weight.

## Transferable points
- Subdividing existing rural dwellings is approved under S5(1)(c) regardless of settlement status (p.5).
- SDC also ticks S5(1)(j) without testing whether a no-BUAB village is a "settlement" or whether the site is "physically well-related" to one (p.5).

## Policy findings
- **S5(1)(c): pass.** reuse of an existing lawful building of permanent and substantial construction with very modest additions
- **S5(1)(j): pass.** 2.21-year supply = evidenced unmet need; "physically well-related to an existing settlement" limb not separately examined for a village with no BUAB
- **Transitional(2): conflict (very-limited weight).** CS.15, CS.16, CS.20 and AS.10 materially inconsistent; CS.20 conflicted only because the location was held "unsustainable" for residential use in principle
- **HO7: benefit (substantial weight).** one net additional dwelling

## Key facts
- Priors Hardwick has no BUAB ("All other settlements" tier); site treated as open countryside under AS.10
- Development plan conflict rests on location; the Framework's S5(1)(c) reuse category answers it
- Decision notice dated 1 Sep 2026

## Sources
- https://apps.stratford.gov.uk/Eplanningv2/AppDetail/Index/213ea536-c404-cd01-a2c8-08de9bd1f4cd

---

Source: https://planningdistilled.org/research/england/nppf-navigator/decisions/stratford-26-00898-FUL.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.