# Barn adjacent to Stonecroft House, Kineton Road, Oxhill

- **Decision:** approved, 25 August 2026
- **Decided by:** Council officer (delegated): Case officer Issy Howell
- **Authority:** Stratford-on-Avon (West Midlands)
- **Application reference:** 26/01393/FUL
- **Procedure:** delegated
- **Development:** Demolition of agricultural barns and erection of 5 dwellings, in place of three Class Q prior approvals for 7 conversions
- **Homes:** 5
- **Site context:** open-countryside, settlement-edge
- **Green Belt:** no
- **Housing land supply (years):** 2.21
- **Framework applied:** December 2024 NPPF (transitional)
- **Determinative policies:** Transitional(1)
- **Development plan policies:** Stratford-on-Avon Core Strategy 2016 CS.15, CS.16, AS.10, CS.9, CS.20
- **Main issues:** fallback, principle outside settlement
- **Tags:** transitional, report-reanchored-by-note, fallback, class-q-fallback, agricultural-building, small-scheme, stratford-relevant

## Summary
Five new houses replacing a group of barns outside the physical confines of Oxhill, granted under delegated powers on 25 August 2026. The barns already had Class Q prior approvals for 7 conversions, and that fallback carried the decision. The report was written under the 2024 Framework's 11(d) and re-anchored with a one-paragraph note.

## Issues and findings
- **Location.** The site conflicts with CS.15, CS.16 and AS.10. The officer found it "would still be considered an unsustainable location for housing development" (Report p.9).
- **Fallback.** "The extant prior approval establishes the use of 7 dwellings on site, in an unsustainable location. Given that the principle of a dwelling has been established on site … and that the fallback is a realistic alternative, it is possible for the fallback position to outweigh the identified conflicts" (pp.9–10).
- **Transitional note.** "This report was written prior to the introduction of the 2026 NPPF … the balancing exercise undertaken in this report remains generally consistent and … the decision remains one of GRANT" (p.10).

## Planning balance
Old 11(d) tilted balance plus fallback. The unsustainable location and visual domestication were outweighed by a realistic fallback of 7 conversions, better design, better highway layout and 5 homes.

## What made the difference
A realistic Class Q fallback. Under the 2026 Framework no S5(1) category is obvious. (c) needs a replacement "for the same use", and agricultural buildings are excluded from PDL, so (d) is unavailable. S5(1)(j) would require the site to be "physically well-related" to Oxhill. The fallback would probably have to justify an S5(4) "exceptional circumstances" approval. The one-paragraph note did not engage with this.

## Transferable points
- SDC's standard closing note for pre-17 August reports ("remains generally consistent") was also used where the 2026 route is unclear (p.10). Weak reasoning to rely on in later cases.
- Class Q fallbacks continue to justify rebuilds in locations the officer calls unsustainable (pp.9–10).

## Policy findings
- **Transitional(1): neutral.** report written under 2024 11(d); a "Procedural Issue" paragraph says the balance "remains generally consistent" with the 2026 NPPF; no S5 analysis
- **S5(1)(c): not-engaged.** not considered; agricultural-to-residential rebuild is not a replacement "for the same use", so (c) would not obviously apply; approval rests on the Class Q fallback
- **TR3(1)(a): harm.** officer still regards the site as "an unsustainable location for housing development", outweighed by the fallback

## Key facts
- Three extant Class Q prior approvals (24/03277, 25/01125, 26/00024/COUQ) for 7 dwellings; none started; the first expires Feb 2028
- Fallback held "greater than theoretical" (Gambone and Snowden cited)
- New build of 589 sq m replaces 658 sq m of barns; WCC Highways saw a layout betterment over the Class Q scheme
- Report written before 17 Aug, decision 25 Aug 2026

## Sources
- https://apps.stratford.gov.uk/Eplanningv2/AppDetail/Index/2083f40e-5098-c989-dbd0-08dec0ac7cc1

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Source: https://planningdistilled.org/research/england/nppf-navigator/decisions/stratford-26-01393-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.