Another successful Bank Holiday Flower Show in Blackhall

Earlier this week, on Bank Holiday Monday, we went along to the 3rd Annual Flower and Vegetable Show which was held at Blackhall Community Centre (or better known to some of us as Blackhall Welfare Hall). We are proud to be associated with this event which has continuously helped to promote both Blackhall as a village and our Community Centre as a high quality venue for events such as this.

We helped to finance the very first show at the venue back in 2013 and we are delighted to have been able to find funding for it every year since. The number of people attending the show, either as exhibitors or as visitors, has increased each year and this year was particularly well attended despite the dull and damp bank holiday weather.

The event has rapidly become one of the most prestigious of its type in the region and has even attracted entries from across the country. On top of that the variety and quality of the produce shown has improved each year and this year was certainly no exception.

We would like to take the opportunity to show our gratitude to the other event funders, including a healthy number of local businesses, but special thanks must go to the event organiser John Peace who continues to put his heart and soul into everything he does year on year. 

Hesleden/Castle Eden wind turbine application refused

The Strategic (Countywide) Planning Committee held this afternoon at Durham refused consent for a single wind turbine at land to the east of Dene Leazes Farm near to the Hardwicke Hall Manor Hotel (although the proposed site is between Hesleden and Blackhall Colliery it technically stands in the Castle Eden parish area).

The applicant had attached a business case to the application which was intended to demonstrate evidence to sustain a local business as justification for the development. However planning committee members were swayed by our arguments, alongside those of residents' representatives, that there were no clear or direct benefits to the people of our communities who would have to suffer the visual impact of the wind turbine in the open countryside, in an Area of High Landscape Value (AHLV).

While we fully acknowledge the intentions of the applicant in trying to sustain a local business we feel that applications such as this must demonstrate strong benefits to the community. In many years of campaigning against wind turbine developments in the countryside we have yet to see any real advantages for local people in those areas where turbines are proposed. Unless this changes we will continue to support our residents in objecting to such developments.

To set out our full objections we have published below the notes we prepared before we spoke at the planning committee hearing this afternoon:

Dene Leazes Wind Turbine

Local members’ objections to committee

2 September 2015

It should be noted that we have met on a number of occasions with local residents to discuss this planning application and they are also in agreement with the points we will raise this afternoon.

Having considered carefully all the available information we feel that we cannot support this application to erect a wind turbine in this location. We acknowledge that the applicant has tried to make a business case out of this issue but we feel that the impact on the open countryside and the loss of residential amenity to residents nearby clearly outweighs any benefits to the local business. When we have spoken to those residents they ask, quite reasonably, where is the direct benefit to us of putting a wind turbine so close to our properties. We are inclined to sympathise with their position.

In addition we have consistently opposed the development of wind turbines in the countryside. We see no evidence of any direct benefits for our communities despite the fact that County Durham surpassed the saturation point for such developments some time ago. Residents in our rural areas are being forced to live with the unacceptable impact of wind turbines on their landscape and we will continue to support them in opposing further developments in the countryside.

We note that there are a few more letters of support than there are letters of objection to this application. However we do not attach much significance to simple weight of numbers in this regard. We feel that the quality of those representations is far more telling. We would draw your attention to the fact that almost all letters of objection have been submitted by local people, living nearby, who will be directly affected by this development. While we acknowledge the right of others to submit letters of support, those doing so will not be forced to live with the impact of this development on their doorstep.

In considering the location of the proposed turbine we cannot understand the reasons for siting it so close to residential properties on the approach to the Hardwicke Hall Hotel and other places nearby. We feel that if the applicant had proposed to erect this turbine further to the west, and closer to his own property, there would not have been the level of opposition that we can see in the committee report.

We also have a number of valid policy objections to this development and I will take them in turn:

The turbine is proposed to be located in an Area of High Landscape Value and we note that this is contrary to saved policy 7 of the former District of Easington Local Plan. Further, we note that objections have been raised by officers of Durham County Council on the basis that the development will have an impact on the nearby Hardwicke Hall Hotel which is a Grade 2 listed building. This places the application in contravention of saved policy 24 of the former District of Easington Local Plan.

Perhaps most significantly we note that the proposed turbine will have a seriously negative impact on local residents leading to a loss of residential amenity which is contrary to Policy 22 of the emerging County Durham Plan which states that development should avoid “unacceptable harm to residential amenity”. We also feel that it will affect the landscape character in the area which is clearly in the open countryside, again contrary to Policy 22. It is also considered by officers of Durham County Council that the development will have unacceptable adverse impacts on the nearby Durham Heritage Coast which is contrary to Policy 38 of the emerging County Durham Plan.

We agree with comments made in the letter of objection submitted by Castle Eden Parish Council which draw attention to the “harmful visual impact” the development would have on the open countryside. We also concur with comments made by members of Monk Hesleden Parish Council in their letter of objection which again refers to the “harmful visual impact and overbearing and oppressive impact” the development would have in its proposed location.

We would also reiterate the comments made by the Design and Conservation officers in relation to the impact that this development would have if erected in this area, especially on the nearby Hardwicke Hall Hotel. It should be noted that policy suggests that developments should be designed to “protect designated heritage assets and settings.” This clearly is not the case with this application.

In summary, we cannot support this application to erect a wind turbine at the proposed location.

We acknowledge the principle of development to sustain local businesses but we simply feel that this is the wrong type of development in entirely the wrong location.

It could be argued that the local business in this case would benefit but residents in our communities demand to know when it is going to be their turn to reap the direct benefits of this type of development.

For the valid planning reasons we have put to you this afternoon, and in the interests of the residents living nearby, we would urge you to refuse planning consent for this development.

Cllr Rob Crute & Cllr Lynn Pounder

Blackhall Division

Durham County Council

2 September 2015