Four more flats proposed for Alnwick scheme

A residential development in Alnwick, which has been well over a decade in the making, looks set to deliver four extra apartments.
The new Maltings development in Dispensary Street, Alnwick.The new Maltings development in Dispensary Street, Alnwick.
The new Maltings development in Dispensary Street, Alnwick.

At this afternoon’s meeting of the county council’s North Northumberland Local Area Council, members are recommended to give the green light to create four residential units in place of office and retail accommodation at The Maltings/Bolams Mill development on Dispensary Street.

The three retail units, which are currently being used as show homes, were part of the original planning approval dating back to 2006 and their conversion would result in a total of 37 apartments on the site.

Four additional car-parking spaces are proposed too.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The application is only before the committee because the developer is Ascent Homes, the house-building arm of the council’s development company Arch.

The proposed changes have not sparked any objections, although Alnwick Town Council ‘would like officers to be satisfied that there are sufficient car-parking spaces’.

A separate application to vary a condition in order to allow the passage of surface water through trapped gullies is also on today’s agenda.

• Committee members will today make a decision on a function room at Breamish Valley Cottages’ complex in Branton after deferring the matter last month for a site visit.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The scheme was recommended for approval, but Ingram Parish Council and 10 residents had objected to the plans, for land south of the sports club.

The primary concerns are parking and noise, both of which could be exacerbated if the new function room is to be used by the wider community for the likes of weddings and parties, rather than being tied to the holiday cottages.

Despite attempts by Peter Moralee, from the business, to reassure members on these issues, the committee voted by eight votes to two to defer the decision for a site visit, given the ‘significant objection’ from the parish council.

• County councillors are recommended to refuse retrospective permission for the installation of a six-metre CCTV pole for a small wind turbine and PV panel to supply high-speed IT connection on the north Northumberland coast.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The proposal, for land south of Budle Barns, is to supply an internet connection for holiday accommodation across Budle Bay, but planners have said ‘the design and scale of the development is unacceptable within the Northumberland Coast AONB and results in an alien urbanised structure in an otherwise rural landscape’.

The bid is before the local area council today after the ward member, Coun Guy Renner-Thompson called it in, citing ‘the inadequacy of local internet infrastructure’ as a material reason.