More time for Bendor signal box plan

Dec 9 2008 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

A BUSINESSMAN looking to develop a historic rail feature on the site of a battlefield has been given more time to revise his plans.

Gordon Wilson, owner of Glendale Engineering and Glendale Properties at Wooler in Northumberland, is seeking planning permission to convert and extend the old railway signal box at nearby Bendor into a home.

The box was part of the old Alnwick to Cornhill railway and lies on the site of the Battle of Homildon Hill of 1402.

Berwick Borough Council deferred the application for a month in November, to allow Mr Wilson to come up with a smaller scheme which addresses concerns of officers and members on scale and mass.

The proposal went before the planning committee again on Tuesday when it was agreed that the applicant be given more time to come up with a revised proposal.

The council has so far recommended that the application be refused, on the advice of the county archaeologist who says the proposed development does not reflect the form or scale of the box, is not in keeping with the architectural style uniting the original buildings of the railway and would disrupt the relationship between the box and its surroundings.

It was one of 21 identical structures built along the route in 1881 but is now in a state of disrepair with windows broken.

Mr Wilson, 52, who lives at Wooler, bought the box along with associated buildings and 17 acres of land at auction last year.

He has said he will allow the feature to go to rack and ruin if not allowed to develop it.