Agent's appeal to planning committee

Kate Bellwood was speaking in relation to a proposal for two dwellings on land opposite Brant House, between Heversham and Crooklands.

Approval for the development, which would consist of a bungalow and a two-storey detached house on a brownfield site, was first granted in 2018.

Outline approval of the project was granted on the basis that one of the dwellings would be an affordable property and the other would be an 'open market dwelling'. In lieu of making the second property affordable, the applicants were set to pay a commuted sum.

However, an agreement on a commuted sum could not be reached with the applicants, Mr and Mrs M C Woodend, who said the sum was beyond their means. Thursday's meeting of the planning committee was therefore asked to approve a reserved matters - those not part of the initial submission in 2018 - application that would see both plots constructed as affordable homes.

Mr Woodend has a degenerative illness, and Ms Bellwood told the committee her clients wished to live their final years in 'dignity' and not 'on a camp bed and with an outside toilet' as they had been doing.

"We implore you to support the officer's recommendation [for approval of the reserved matters]," she said.

She pointed out that exceptional medical needs 'can be a material consideration' in planning applications.

Planning committee member Cllr Judy Filmore expressed concern that approval of the reserved matters might be 'setting a precedent'.

"If someone wants to build in the countryside, all they need to do is say 'well actually, I'll live in it and I'll make sure it's an affordable home in perpetuity beyond that'," she said.

However, South Lakeland District Council planning officer Nick Howard felt any precedent would be 'limited', citing the 'unusual circumstances' that characterised the application.

The reserved matters application was put to the committee at Kendal Town Hall and voted through unanimously.