Brownfield regeneration specialist Cofton has won a 15-month legal battle to develop 400 homes on a former airbase in Norfolk.
A planning inquiry has overturned the local authority’s earlier rejection of the Blenheim Grange scheme.
Breckland council’s planning committee rejected Cofton’s application for the 40-acre site, which has lain empty for 15 years, because it had earmarked the area for employment uses.
But the Secretary of State has formally accepted the inspector’s conclusions that the area already has sufficient land available for employment uses.
Cofton’s managing director Peter Nelson expects the demolition of hangars and infrastructure improvements to be completed by next June.
Around 120 of the 400 homes will be affordable.
Nelson said: “The only disappointment is the time, effort and money it has taken to arrive at this inevitable outcome.”
References: EGi News 21/11/06
