Supported Living and HMO advice

I have 2 separate questions for which I would appreciate some help with. Our company secured a property with the intention of registering as a Residential care home.Our client group is LD and mental health. It's a 6 bed detached property in a rural area. We made a planning application for a material change of use C2 which was refused after ferocious opposition by a neighbour who happened to be the Parish Council chairperson. It was refused on the grounds that the home would be in an isolated location, remote from local amenities and poorly served by public transport, to the future detriment of future residents. It should be noted that the Planning Officer recommended for approval, but was overturned by the planning board who had been lobbied by the Parish Councillor. The property is within 5 minutes driving time to the nearest hypermarket and 10 minutes to 3 major towns.It is also served by a village bus route, and has 6 railway stations within a 3 mile radius. Can anyone give any guidance as to how we assess "Adequate access to local amenities" as we feel that the council is limiting the choice of accommodation to potential service users, and discriminating against persons with mental illness.

Secondly, we then decided to change course and have relieved our lease of the property to a 3rd party property management company. And changing our CQC registration to domicilary care. The objective to provide a supported living setup instead. i.e. Care provider and landlord are separate entities. After consulting the HMO office to arrange assessment, the planning office contacted us. The planning office are having difficulty distinguishing the difference between Residential care home and supported living. They are suggesting we need to apply for a Certificate of Lawful Use, to be ready for the inevitable reports by the neighbours once we begin housing SUs. They also indicated that we may still need to change the category to C2, residential care home. The fear is that if we can't fully convey the difference between Residential care and Supported Living, the certificate will be refused. Does anyone know we stand legally in this situation, and whether a certificate of lawful use is even required. Our sister company has opened 3 separate supported living services in another borough, and never asked for the Certificate.

Any input is much appreciated.