A SET of electronic at the entrance of a small housing development does not it a “gated community”, a planning inspector has decided.

The Forest Council granted planning permission for three houses on a site at Lion’s Row, Parkend in November 2020.

The houses are now occupied but access arrangements have not been built in accordance with the approved plans.

an electric access gate for vehicles has been added and the cattle grid, pedestrian gate and side walls are in different positions to that approved.

An application for retrospective permission for the gates was refused in September last year.

The application went before to the development management committee because of a ward member’s concern that the revised access arrangements created a ‘de facto gated community’ which was uncharacteristic of development generally in the Forest.

It was a view shared by West Dean Parish Council, a few residents and several councillors attending the committee.

The two ward councillors argued the access conveyed an ‘aggressive impression’ sending a ‘forbidding message’.

They said such an arrangement may become attractive for those wishing to live in the countryside but remain apart from country life. They also expressed concern at the potential precedent effect of upholding the appeal, and that the appellant and the current owners are showing no respect for the planning system.

An upheld appeal would be in effect green light to others to flout planning rules.

The arguments reflect the views of many who spoke at the development management committee, said appeal inspector G Powys Jones.

The inspector said: “The effect of the gate on local consciousness is a matter of perception, but I consider the concerns to be misplaced. “Firstly, I would not describe the residents of the three dwellings as a community in the normally accepted sense of the term since it is too small. “The gates do not necessarily act as an impediment to the residents of the dwellings taking part in village or country life, should they wish to do so.

“Nor do they prevent access for visitors to the dwellings with legitimate reasons for visiting, since they may be readily opened by those visited.

“As I saw at my site visit when the postman delivered the mail, the pedestrian gate is open to all, and at all times according to the appellant, thus anyone can walk in or out.

“The access arrangements are not so ‘forbidding’ as to prevent views into the site of the 3 dwellings from the public realm.

“Although the appellant and residents have no policy reason to justify need, their reasons for erecting the access gate are perfectly reasonable in my view, being based on security and safety.

“I therefore conclude that the revised access arrangements do not harm the character and appearance of their surroundings and that the council’s concerns as to community cohesion and integration are unjustified being insufficient reason to withhold permission.”

An application for costs against the council was rejected by the inspector.