I’ve been heavily involved with an objection to a residential development.  The proposal was for 20 houses on the only remaining green space in a small village adjacent to and affecting the setting of two grade II listed buildings.  The Local Planning Authority placed a huge amount of weight on the fact that the council could not demonstrate a five year housing supply and gave only cursory consideration to the harm to the significance of the heritage assets.  A number of carefully crafted letters and a concise and articulate committee speech assisted the Planning Committee in realising that insufficient weight had been given, in the balancing exercise, to the assets’s conservation.  Despite officer recommendation for approval the application was refused last night.