Plan will ‘strangle Park settlements’

Nov 1 2007 by Chloe Griffiths, The Journal

PEOPLE living in Northumberland’s National Park last night told of their fears that new developments will be banned in all but 14 villages.

No other building would be allowed in the 405 square mile park.

The National Park Authority is holding a series of meetings over the next six weeks to gauge the responses to the proposals, which would draw lines around each of the settlements.

All future development in the park would then be contained within these settlement “envelopes”.

Leaflets are being sent to every National Park household this week to explain the consultation process and enable families to vote on the boundaries for the different villages, mostly on the park border.

Park bosses are asking how people think the move would affect landowners outside the boundaries who want to develop their properties, or how no restrictions on development would affect the landscape and local services. Last night community leaders said the consultation was the result of pressure from the Government, and that they would prefer decisions to be made village by village. They warned strict boundary lines could “strangle” communities.

The 14 villages are Harbottle, Rochester, Holystone, Alwinton, Elsdon, Greenhaugh, Lanehead, Falstone, Charlton, Stonehaugh, Stannersburn, Kirknewton, Kilham and Ingram.

The responses will help influence the future planning policy for all development in the park between Hadrian’s Wall and the border with Scotland.

Authority board member and district councillor for Harbottle, Alwinton and Elsdon – three of the affected communities – councillor Sue Bolam yesterday told The Journal the moves come at the bidding of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

She said: “The National Park would prefer to be flexible about the communities, enabling them to respond to the needs of each village.

“But we are being pushed very hard by the Government office to draw up hard lines around the communities. This is not what we want, which is why we are consulting with people to see how they feel. I think local Government’s view is very old-fashioned, it’s inflexible and will encourage developers to cram houses in right up to the line.”

She said: “Having these envelopes in places makes planning easier, but officers want to get the views of the community.

“If there is a strong view why there should not be boundaries in place, then we will also put that proposal to local government.”

Last night Tynedale Council leader Michael Walton, whose authority area includes Greenhaugh and Lanehead, said: “Personally, I wouldn’t like to see anything that strangled villages.

“Villages need to be sustainable and in quite a lot of places they need to grow to be sustainable. Each village needs to be taken on a case by case basis.”

But Keith Maddison, parish council chairman of Elsdon, another affected community, said he would welcome the boundaries. He said: “This village is important both historically and aesthetically and any uncontrolled development would be wrong.”

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Have your say

TO have your say on the proposed development “envelopes”:

Meetings take place between 11am to 3.30pm on Monday, November 5, at the Cheviot Centre, Wooler; on Thursday, November 8, at the Haltwhistle Partnership Office, Haltwhistle; and on Tuesday, December 4, at Rothbury Tourism Information Centre.

Other meetings to discuss specific settlement envelopes are taking place at:

Harbottle Village Hall on Tuesday, November 6

6pm-7.30pm: Harbottle and Rochester settlements

7.30pm-9pm: Holystone, Alwinton and Elsdon settlements

Hollybush Inn, Greenhaugh on Monday, November 12

6pm-7.30pm: Greenhaugh, Lanehead and Falstone settlements

7.30pm-9pm: Charlton, Stonehaugh and Stannersburn settlements

Kirknewton Village Hall on Thursday, November 29

7pm-9pm Kirknewton, Kilham and Ingram settlements

Further information is available at www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/planning or from leaflets at National Park visitor centres at Ingram, Rothbury and Once Brewed on Hadrian’s Wall.