HOUSING: Defend town with strategy

Amble town and county councillors need to defend this small, but developing town from the rash of developers.

I expect them to use Northumberland County Council’s own strategy here.

Its statement is that Amble needs at least 600 new homes between 2011 and 2031. Even if that is right, it equates to building at the rate of 30 new homes a year for 20 years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So I expect our representatives to rein in the current rash of planning proposals for huge housing estates across the entire fringes of the town.

Some 250 houses are already under construction at Mark’s Bridge. That leaves a supposed need for 350 homes in the next 14 years – that’s 25 houses a year for the next 14 years.

Apply the council’s own strategy and at the very least the proposed 500 homes south of James Calvert Spence College must fail, as well as some of the other proposals.

We native Ambleites do benefit from developing the town, that’s fine, but I expect all our representatives to reject these plans for unsustainable house building.

All you need to apply is common sense and the county council’s own strategy to defend the town.

George Martin,

Panhaven Road,

Amble