THERE is no substance to the council's refusal of a plan to build 400 homes on Humberston Avenue, according to the company behind it.
The statement came on the closing day of the appeal into the Keystone Development (LG) Ltd's proposal held at the Grimsby Town Hall.
As reported, the company has appealed against a decision made by North East Lincolnshire planning councillors to refuse the plan.
The application was met with widespread opposition from councillors and residents, and was rejected twice by North East Lincolnshire's Planning Committee.
After the second refusal in April this year, Keystone Developments, part of the Longhurst group, lodged an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
The hearing, which started on Tuesday and finished yesterday, was presided over by inspector Jessica Graham.
Both Keystone and the Council gave their closing arguments for and against the passing of the application.
Speaking on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council, solicitor Richard Langham explained that the current public transport provisions were inadequate and would lead to an over-reliance on the private car.
"No one would consider a 2.9km walk to the Tesco store or want the prospect of changing buses to get there," he said. "This would in turn create a larger burden on the already over-capacity junctions.
"I submit that these details show the location is not a sustainable development and for all the above reasons I ask you to recommend the refusal of planning permission.
On behalf of Keystone, Ian Dove QC said: "With information made clear during the scrutiny meeting there was no substance in the refusing of the planning application."
He went on to say: "There is a strong positive case for development of the appeal site that will bring about significant benefits in terms of housing in the region.
"In light of the information shown during the inquiry I believe there is no sensible basis to do other than recommend to the Secretary of State that planning permissions should be granted."
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