Fresh housing plans for site after previous application rejected over fears for 'little village green'

The original plans for 11 new social-rented homes in the village were turned down by the Castle Morpeth Local Area Council in March as the community would lose its ‘little village green’.

However, the applicant – registered social landlord Karbon Homes, has now submitted a fresh application to Northumberland County Council seeking permission for four one-bedroom flats in the area.

The previous proposal, for eight one-bedroom flats and three two-bedroom bungalows on land west of Ladyburn House, off Simonside Crescent, was ‘considered to be in line with the county’s identified need in Hadston’.

However, planning officers said it should be rejected, because the ‘proposed development would result in the loss of a good quality area of open space which provides a valuable amenity function for local residents’.

Objectors emphasised this view at the meeting, with resident Stephanie Smith describing the plot as ‘in effect our little village green’, adding: “This space is really valuable to the community.”

The local ward councillor, Scott Dickinson, explained that the community would welcome more social housing, ‘but not at the expense of residents who already live there’.

The new application has been significantly reduced in size and the proposed development would be on the northern edge of the site, off Simonside Crescent, on an area of former garages and hard-standing.

This would leave the main area of green space intact, while ‘landscaping will retain existing trees and new planting of native species shrubs is proposed along Simonside Crescent to lift the quality of the development and provide an attractive aspect to the surrounding neighbourhood’.

The four flats would be housed in one two-storey building and the ‘development would complement the area and fit with the local vernacular’.

There would be parking for 12 vehicles – one for each one-bedroom flat (allocated), plus two visitor bays and an additional six estate spaces (unallocated).

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