Housing scheme approved (From The Advertiser Series)

Planning consent for Wolsingham site despite objections

2:00pm Friday 19th October 2012 in News By Catherine Priestley, Chief Reporter (Sedgefield)

PLANS for houses on the site of a former builders merchant have won planning permission despite residents fearing it will lead to flooding and traffic problems.

Durham County Council’s area planning committee (south and west) approved an application by Hartgate Developments to redevelop the former Weardale Building Supplies site, on Lydgate Lane, Wolsingham.

The old builders merchant site, which has been unoccupied since it ceased trading in 2009, will be cleared and nine houses developed on a plot by plot basis.

Wolsingham Parish Council and residents of Lydgate Lane and surrounding streets objected to the plan.

Their main concern was that the buildings could increase surface water leading to flooding, particularly of Trodbeck which is already prone to flooding, and sewerage backing up into houses.

They also fear the extra properties will increase traffic problems in the narrow lane and feel it will be out of scale with the area’s character.

But councillors heard from planning officers that a drainage system and controls over surfacing of the development could in fact improve the situation with regards to flood risk.

They said that the current use of the land as a passing or parking place for vehicles could not be considered as it is private land and that the smaller houses proposed would be at the front of the site, in keeping with the rest of the village.

Members voted six to three in favour of the scheme and approved the application when they met at Crook on Thursday (October 18).