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The drafting of Policy H11 expressly provides for consent to infill development within a Limited Infill Village, conditional upon satisfying the three applicable conditions. This infers automatic consent without sufficient reference and consideration of the protections afforded to the Green Belt by the relevant policies under Section 9 Protection Green Belt Land, of the National Planning Policy Framework and in particular NPPF 88 .
H11 as drafted reinforces the exceptions to inappropriate development referred to under 2.79 of policy DS19 Green Belt giving rise to circumstances where a development falling under the exceptions definition is deemed appropriate.
In theory, a development proposal may fulfil the three criteria listed in policy H11 but may still result in harm to the green belt. Consent for this development would be granted on the basis that 'development will be permitted where the site is located within a Limited Infill Village and the following criteria are satisfied'. The harm caused to the green belt should be a material consideration in determining that the development does not present an 'exception' in terms of policy H11.This situation would have been prevented through the application of the protections provided in section 9 of the NPPF.
The drafting as presented in the Draft Plan will lead to ambiguity and a lack of appropriate protections available to local planning officers to prevent inappropriate development. The ambiguity will also result in an increase in the number of appeals against applications which have been refused.