Decision due on new homes in Northumberland coastal village

The proposed housing site off Estuary Drive in Alnmouth.

Plans for seven houses in Alnmouth go before the North Northumberland Local Area Council for a decision on Thursday.

The scheme is for a site behind the Schooner Hotel, which is currently vacant, having previously been used as part of the hotel alongside the squash courts.

Next to the 0.2-hectare site, which is accessed from Estuary Drive, off Riverside Road, is parking for the apartments which have been created to the rear of the pub.

A previous application – for eight rather than seven homes – was lodged last year but withdrawn in January, due to insufficient information about contaminated land and archaeology.

However, the proposals up for approval, which were resubmitted in the summer, remain similar.

At the bottom of the slope would be three, three-storey townhouses in a terrace (reduced from four).

Moving up the hill, there would be two semi-detached houses and then a detached property, all two-storey.

At the top of the slope would be a single, detached bungalow. All of the units would be set into the hillside to some extent.

Alnmouth Parish Council and eight residents have objected to the scheme, citing issues such as overdevelopment, traffic, parking, impact on the conservation area and grade II-listed Schooner, and impact on the area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

The Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership has not formally objected but does have concerns about the three-storey block.

Its response says: ‘The Partnership maintains a reduction in the height of this element would help ameliorate the impact of the development and enhance the cascading nature of the developments in Alnmouth.’

Planning permission would be subject to a section 106 legal agreement to secure £31,500 for off-site affordable housing and a £3,600 coastal mitigation contribution.

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service