Honeysuckle Bottom Sawmill, East Horsley

6011694·Guildford·21 Sept 2026allowed·25/P/00759

Tier label used

—

The tier sentence ¶11

“access to local services and facilities and”

Summary

This was a non-determination appeal to replace a working sawmill in woodland near East Horsley, in the Surrey Hills National Landscape, with three homes: one barn conversion and two new builds. The appeal was allowed. The inspector accepted the site was car-dependent and conflicted with the spatial strategy. The scheme qualified under S5(1)(c) and (d), but the two new-build homes were isolated and did not meet HO11. The inspector therefore ran S5(4) and found exceptional circumstances. The main reasons were PDL redevelopment, 20% BNG, the removal of HGV traffic and disturbance, and the housing shortfall. The letter has serious drafting problems. It cites S5's sub-paragraphs as "S3(2)", "S3(3)" and "S3 Part 4", and uses the old "significantly and demonstrably outweigh" formula. It also records a Green Belt openness benefit but never applies GB6/GB7, even though S5(5) excludes Green Belt land from S5.

The location finding

TR3: fail. unlit lanes without footways; villages "some distance"; bridleways not practical; no public transport; heavy car reliance (DL 7-11, 34)

Why this is cited

This decision was picked up by the search on the words above, which refer to services, not to a settlement tier. no tier; location found unsuitable; allowed on fallback.

Sources

Decision on the Planning Inspectorate appeals service · full decision note · letter pins-corpus/6011694.txt

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