Following news that developers had amended their plans to build 123 houses on land adjacent to the B1281 in Blackhall Colliery we asked the planning office at county hall for an update on progress with the revised development proposals (please see post dated Monday 20 May 2019 for background details).
In response the planning officer responsible for dealing with the planning application has issued the following update:
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| Developers are seeking consent to build 123 houses on land to the south of the B1281 |
"In the first instance the application will be subject to a
re-consultation exercise which will allow a further 14 days for comment on the
revised scheme and include formal re-consultation with statutory and
non-statutory consultees. I understand that the applicant also intends to
submit an amended Landscape plan and Ecology report and these should be
available next week. Consequently, I’ve delayed initiating any further
re-consultation until these documents are available.
"Whilst I will need to await responses from key consultees as
to the acceptability of the amendments, with regard to the roundabout I
anticipate that this will likely meet with the Highway Authorities approval.
Elsewhere across the scheme design advice appears to be reflected although
potential improvements to links with the surrounding PROW network do not appear
to have been possible, mainly due to landownership issues. Whilst this is
disappointing it is unlikely to amount to refusal reasons sustainable upon
appeal.
"Given the need to reconsult I’ve no firm date in terms of
which planning committee the application will be reported to however, I would
note that the deadline for reports to the October committee is 4th
October 2019 and as such it is likely that it will be the November meeting
before the application is in a position to be reported".
The proposal in the revised plans to construct a roundabout at the entrance to the development site is likely to satisfy the highways authority (the original planning application had omitted any reference to traffic mitigation measures and this was considered unacceptable to highways officers).
However, the amended plans leave questions unanswered in relation to improvements to nearby public rights of way (PROW) so we will need to seek clarification on that issue before we submit representations to the planning office.
Full planning application details and associated documents can be found by following this link: http://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=PPUPXKGD0A000
