A long-running planning row over whether households in one of Penrith new housing developments should be allowed to open their own windows has finally been settled – and the council has lost.
Westmorland and Furness Council’s decision to block opening windows on large parts of the new Saddleback View Persimmon Homes development at Raiselands Farm has been overturned by a government planning inspector, more than a year after councillors backed officers’ warnings about health risks from noise.
Back in 2024, council planning officers told councillors that people living near the West Coast Main Line and the M6 could suffer disturbed sleep if bedroom windows were allowed to open. Officers warned that poor sleep could lead to cardiovascular and other health problems, and said allowing openable windows could expose the council to future legal action.
At a heated planning committee meeting at Voreda House in October 2024, councillors were asked to keep strict conditions that would require non-opening windows in many of the new homes on the development.
Committee chair Cllr Simpkins said at the time: “We must act to protect the children who can’t close a window and act to protect the council from legal action in the future.”
But not all councillors on the Westmorland and Furness Eden planning committee agreed.
Cllr McCall said the council was being “condescending” by stopping residents from opening windows, while Cllr Murray told the meeting he “would not dream of buying a house that he could not open windows”.
Despite those objections, the committee voted to follow officer advice and refuse Persimmon Homes’ application, with six councillors in favour and two abstentions.
Persimmon Homes took the fight to the Secretary of State, lodging an appeal against the council’s refusal. After a hearing and site visit in September 2025, a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State has now allowed the appeal.
In a detailed decision issued on 27 January 2026, the inspector overturned the council’s stance and granted permission without the controversial non-opening window requirement imposed as condition by the council on the planning approval for the 229 new homes at Raiselands Farm.
The planning inspector found that while rail noise at night was the council’s main concern, there was no substantive evidence that allowing bedroom windows to open would pose a significant health risk to residents. Crucially, the homes will still include mechanical ventilation, giving occupants the choice to close windows if they wish.
The decision also notes that the development is standard family housing, not specialist accommodation, and that children or elderly residents would not realistically be left without support in managing basic living conditions.
Noise mapping data considered during the appeal showed predicted rail noise levels were well below thresholds that would justify the extreme restriction originally imposed by the council, with road noise concerns later withdrawn by the authority during proceedings.
The planning inspector concluded that the original condition forcing non-opening windows was neither reasonable nor necessary, and that allowing residents to open their bedroom windows would not result in unacceptable living conditions or harm to health or quality of life .
The ruling clears the way for the completion of the full 229-home development – including 30% affordable housing – to proceed with windows that actually open, ending what many residents saw as an extraordinary level of control over how people live in their own homes.
After more than a year since the council decided to refuse the application to remove the planning condition, the “window opening ban” on the Saddleback View development is officially over.
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