Chichester District Council will have to pay costs after a planning inspector overturned its decision to refuse an application for homes in Nutbourne.
The outline application from Metis Homes Ltd, for 49 homes on land east of Inlands Road and south of the railway line, was given the thumbs-down by the planning committee last June.
Before that it was deferred so that West Sussex Highways could be asked for more information relating to road safety.
Now, following an appeal to the Secretary of State, the application has been allowed, with the council being told to cover part of the costs of the appeal.
A report from planning inspector Andrew Owen said that costs could be claimed from the council as it ‘behaved unreasonably’ and led Metis Homes to to incur ‘unnecessary or wasted expense’ in the appeal process.
A council spokesman said: “We are disappointed that, despite presenting robust expert evidence at the appeal hearing, the inspector concluded that the development would not result in an increased risk to highway safety and those crossing the railway line and awarded partial costs against the council.
“We will now work with the developer to agree their costs and ensure that the new homes are of a high quality.”
The main issues with the application were highway safety, public safety due to the increased use of the level crossing, and the impact on the delivery of infrastructure.
In his report, Mr Owen said he felt Inlands Road was wide enough to deal with the extra traffic the development would bring and that there would be no road safety concerns.
He added: “The development would lead to an increase in traffic on Inlands Road in both directions. However, I do not consider that this would be unacceptably harmful to highway safety.”
Mr Owen also said that, while there was no continuous pavement along Inlands Road, there were ‘safe and convenient’ alternatives for people walking to and from the new homes.
He added that he felt it was ‘unlikely’ that the use of the level crossing would ‘increase materially’ and that he could not consider that the development would be likely to prejudice the delivery of infrastructure in the area.
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