Duke of Northumberland housing plan set to go ahead

Jul 30 2010 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

THE Duke of Northumberland looks set to finally win approval to build houses on green space in his home town – at the ninth attempt.

His Northumberland Estates company’s plan to build 76 homes on Willoughby’s Bank in Alnwick is being recommended for approval by Northumberland County Council next week.

The proposal is the ninth for housing on the greenfield site by the estates since 2000, and includes 41 affordable homes.

The plans, submitted to the council in March, are identical to the eighth set, but contain extra information on how flood water from the land will be dealt with.

Lack of detail on this part of the scheme was the sole reason for the last proposal being kicked out. That bid was thrown out by a Government planning inspector in December following the estates’ appeal against the council’s decision to refuse it last May.

The inspector concluded there was no proof the development would not pose a flood risk hazard.

Alnwick Town Council has objected to the current scheme, having opposed all eight previous submissions, saying the homes will be “ghetto-style” houses in a rural market town.

Two residents have also sent in objections, one of which states: “One has to admire the sheer determination of the developers and Northumberland Estates to somehow get the consent required.”

The application goes before the authority’s North area planning committee next Thursday.

Members are being advised that the planning inspector’s views on the appeal and the flood risk concern having been addressed mean they should now approve the scheme.

The approval is subject to agreement on the delivery of the affordable housing, which planners say will “deliver significant benefits for the town and wider area”, plus contributions to sport and recreational facilities. Last night, the estates’s director of development Colin Barnes said he was pleased with the recommendation.

He said: “There is really only one technical issue to resolve from the previous application, which is all sorted out, so there is nothing really to prevent the scheme and obviously it provides a high level of affordable housing for the town.

“It should hopefully be a relatively straight-forward decision this time.

“There is very little objection to the scheme as well.”

Coun Eileen Blakey, mayor of Alnwick and chairman of the town council, was disappointed by the officers’ findings.

She said: “It is still ghetto-style housing in a rural setting. Our town is a tiny market town.

“Granted we may be the county town of Northumberland, but we are very small and to build ghetto-style housing in this locality is quite beyond me.

“We have got to have nice affordable housing.”