THE DUKE of Northumberland has won a planning appeal against Northumberland County Council – but has been refused a costs claim.

The Duke’s Northumberland Estates will now be allowed to build two single-storey residences on the site of the former youth hostel at Bellingham in the north Tyne Valley.

However, a Government appeals inspector has turned down an application for costs against the county planning authority as its refusal was “not unreasonable” on the evidence available at the time.

Inspector Graham Snowdon ruled that only the material that was submitted after the original planning application was rejected tipped the balance in favour of the Duke.

The site on Woodburn Road was leased by the Youth Hostels Association from the Duke in 1937 but closed in a round of YHA cutbacks in 2006.

From 2007 to March this year the site was run privately by the owner of an adjacent caravan park.

But in his ruling, Mr Snowdon said: “It is not clear how actively the accommodation was marketed by him, and there is the suggestion that the main purpose behind his lease of the site was to deter anti-social behaviour adjacent to the caravan park.

“Whatever the situation, the venture does not appear to have been a commercial success.”

Northumberland County Council rejected the Duke’s plans in January, saying they would cause the unacceptable loss of a tourism facility.

But subsequent additional marketing reports and evidence from Northumberland Estates was enough to show that the proposal would not cause such a loss, the inspector said.

However, the lack at that time of an independent appraisal of the business, and of income and expenditure figures, meant it was “not unreasonable” for the council to refuse permission.

“I can understand the council’s conclusion that policy requirements had not been complied with at the time it made its decision,” Mr Snowdon said.

The council also refused planning permission because Northumberland Estates had not included financial contributions to sport and play facilities.

But this was later withdrawn when the applicant agreed to do so.

Mr Snowdon said with no objections from the highways authority, there could now be no objection to outline planning permission for residential development on what is a brownfield site.