A CONTROVERSIAL house building plan designed to pay for the completion of work on an upmarket Northumberland country estate is at risk of failing to deliver, according to planning officials.

Work on roads, car parking, street lighting, landscaping and children’s play facilities was left unfinished after the former Hartford Hall mansion and its wooded grounds, near Bedlington, were redeveloped as a luxury, 71-home housing estate more than six years ago.

Northumberland County Council bosses were unable to pursue enforcement action to get the work done after the original development company, Hartford Hall Estate Ltd, went into administration in 2009.

Now a North East development partnership, called Maymask, has submitted plans to build a further 23 houses on the estate – which it claims will raise the funds required to finish the outstanding infrastructure works.

Next week county councillors will be recommended by officers to reject the application for planning permission, amid fears that the finances may not stack up.

Maymask says the benefits of enabling the completion of unfinished work mean there are “special circumstances” which justify the council allowing 23 houses to be built in the green belt and in open countryside.

However, in a report to the south east area planning committee, planning officer Jennie Adamson says an independent appraisal of the development scheme has identified a potential £268,000 deficit after all likely costs have been considered.

She says this means the developer might not be able to deliver all of the unfinished work. That would reduce the benefit to be gained from the new houses, and raise further questions over whether it should be allowed, when it is in breach of planning policies.

There have been 38 objections and a protest petition from Hartford Hall residents against building on the Low Meadow. They say “at risk” historic properties on the estate have already been safeguarded, and claim the Maymask scheme is not financially viable. The Hartford Hall residents’ association claims it has drawn up its own proposals to get the unfinished work completed, including road upgrades and the removal of waste and spoil from the Low Meadow.

English Heritage has voiced concern about the impact of the 23 houses on the setting of Hartford Hall, and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust objects because of the cumulative impact of development on protected species and the local nature reserve.

Maymask, which has an option to buy the estate from the receivers who currently own the land, claims the housing scheme offers a solution to the long-standing problem of unfinished work.

In her report to next week’s meeting, Ms Adamson says the application would appear in principle to be a way of completing the work. She adds: “However, officers have strong reservations about whether the proposed scheme could deliver all of the proposed works, given the uncertainty surrounding the extent of the costs involved in the development. It is therefore considered that there would potentially be a significant risk in granting permission for the scheme.

“Without this level of certainty it is considered there is insufficient justification for approving a development that is contrary to policies.”

Whatever you need this Christmas, go to www.LocalMole.co.uk - the fast, accurate local business directory.