118 homes approved on edge of Northumberland village

Residents were left angry as councillors reluctantly and narrowly gave the go-ahead to 118 new homes in a Northumberland village.

Developer Galley’s application for a mix of two, three and four-bedroom properties on land north-east of Hebron Avenue, in Pegswood, was approved at Tuesday night’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s strategic planning committee.

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The scheme had previously gone before the committee in March, but was deferred for councillors to go on a site visit, mainly to look at the access amid road-safety fears.

The meeting heard that the applicant will now provide traffic islands to the east of the entrance on Dark Lane and a one-way priority feature to the west.

Local concerns on a range of issues were voiced by resident Kenneth Bodenham, parish councillor Paul Williams and the area’s county councillor, David Towns.

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Coun Jeff Reid first moved refusal of the plans, largely based on over-development – the site is earmarked for housing in the Morpeth Neighbourhood Plan, but only around 61 homes were envisaged. However, council planners emphasised that the neighbourhood plan does not place a policy limit on the number of houses.

This motion failed and Coun Gordon Castle moved approval, saying: “It seems the numbers in the neighbourhood plan are not a reason for refusal, therefore I have a struggle to find any other reasons – that seemed to be the main one. It’s perfectly clear it isn’t wanted, but not wanting it isn’t a planning reason.”

And a slim majority of the other committee members agreed with him.

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Coun Rupert Gibson said: “I’m not particularly happy with the density of the houses, but I don’t think we have much leeway to do anything about it – we are going back to planning law.”

The chairman, Coun Colin Horncastle, added: “There’s nothing I would like more than to refuse this, however, when you work through it on planning grounds, you hit a brick wall so to speak.”

Admitting defeat, Coun Reid said: “I’m disappointed that this really good opportunity to add value to Pegswood has been lost by trying to put as many houses on there as possible.

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“Sometimes we have to take a stand on things, let’s not have a Northumberland that looks like everywhere else.”

In terms of affordable housing, the scheme will provide six two-bedroom bungalows for social rent and six homes for sale at discount market value – two two-bedroom and four three-bedroom.

The section 106 agreement will also include contributions for secondary education (£301,400) and the village’s GP surgery (£72,900), as well as a naturalistic play area which is to be built on an open space in the centre of the development.

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service

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