Go-ahead for homes in Northumberland countryside

Outline plans for two new homes in the countryside between Stannington and Bedlington have been given the go-ahead, against the advice of planners.
The site which is set to be granted outline permission for two homes. Picture from GoogleThe site which is set to be granted outline permission for two homes. Picture from Google
The site which is set to be granted outline permission for two homes. Picture from Google

The bid, for land west of 62 Stannington Station Road, was supported by county councillors last week despite the recommendation to refuse from the authority’s planning officers.

The officers said that the development, which is considered to be in the open countryside and which is just outside the Stannington Neighbourhood Plan area, should not go ahead as it would be inappropriate development in the green belt.

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While the site is previously developed (brownfield) – it was formerly a haulage depot which included two large, single-storey buildings – the planning officer’s report said that the proposed homes ‘would have a greater impact on the openness of the green belt than the existing development’.

The other suggested reasons for refusal were that it ‘would have a significantly harmful urbanising impact on the open countryside character and visual amenity of the locality’ and a lack of information about the ecological impacts.

But at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley Local Area Council (the site is within the parish of West Bedlington), members voted that they were minded to approve the application.

The scheme had originally gone before last month’s meeting, but the committee had deferred a decision in order to go on a site visit.

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At this month’s Castle Morpeth Local Area Council, members rejected plans for six bungalows on a site further west on Stannington Station Road, due to it being inappropriate development in the green belt, although this site was garden land and not a brownfield site.

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service