PLANS for a high-end housing development on a former charity headquarters next to a city conservation area have raised concerns with people living nearby.
An application has been submitted to Newcastle City Council for 12 family homes to be built on the site of the Barnardo’s regional headquarters on Buston Terrace in Jesmond.
If approved, the three-storey Orchard House will be demolished to make way for a development of detached and semi-detached homes, 11 of them with five bedrooms and one with six.
But the site is close to the Jesmond Dene conservation area and concerns have been expressed about the removal of trees from the site and the scale of the development.
At a public meeting called by the council’s North Jesmond ward committee, architect Andrew Scott, of Intersect Architects, said: “There isn’t very much five-bedroom accommodation with gardens in this area. In recent years bigger housing stock has been sub-divided into student accommodation.”
The application for the three-storey homes has been submitted to the council by Barnardo’s and Newcastle-based Adamson Developments.
Jonathan Prime, managing director of Adamson Developments, said the architects had “developed an appropriate design response for the site, respecting the existing mature landscape setting bounding the conservation area and providing much-needed larger family accommodation with private gardens”.
But at a public meeting attended by about 60 local residents, a range of concerns were expressed, including the need to remove 36 trees and the proposed layout of the development. Retired architect Peter Willis, a resident of nearby Fenwick Close, which is locally listed as being of architectural significance, questioned the need for three-storey homes on the site.
“When architect Brian Robson designed Fenwick Close 40 years ago the original proposal was for three-storey properties but the planners decided that was no good for this site and they should be limited to two storeys,” he said.
Mr Scott allayed fears that a student village was intended, saying the plan was for an enclave of family homes which, he estimated, could sell for about £750,000.
The consultation period ends on March 22 and the application goes before the city council planning committee on April 19.
A spokesman for Barnardo’s said before the meeting: “Times have changed and today many of the rooms and offices are empty or under-used as so much of our work takes place out in the community itself. Therefore Barnardo’s is considering potential alternative locations which would make much better use of the charity’s funds.
“In fact, any sale could lead to a significant sum being released for front-line work with local children and young people.”
