Builder wins homes appeal

12:02pm Thursday 21st August 2008

A DISTRICT with a shortage of industrial land is losing more factory space to housing after a builder won a planning appeal.

The Planning Inspectorate has granted outline permission for Barratt Newcastle Ltd to build houses at Catkin Way, Bishop Auckland, where a fifth of them will be affordable homes.

Inspector Alan Robinson, who conducted a public inquiry in May, ruled that meeting the need for more affordable homes outweighed planning authority Wear Valley District Council's concerns about the lack of factory land.

The site on the Greenfields Industrial Estate is allocated for industrial use in the district's local plan and has been owned since 2003 by furniture company Keen Replicas, who hope to move to a smaller building.

The council told the inquiry it was keen to keep employment space, citing a survey from regeneration group Shared Intelligence.

But Barratt's solicitor Richard Sagar argued that affordable housing was an acute and desperate issue' in Wear Valley and the takeup rate for industrial units was low.

In his judgement, Mr Robinson said that 20 per cent of the Barratt development would be affordable homes. He said: "This has to be seen in the context of the council significantly failing to meet its identified affordable housing need.

"The failure to meet these needs is all the more serious given the significant rise in house prices when compared against the incomes earned by many of those living in the district.

"The council accepted at the inquiry that the target for affordable housing has been undershot by over a half. This is a considerable failure of provision."

Barratt has not said when or how many houses it will build.

A spokesman said it didn't expect to start on site for at least another 12 months.

Councillor Barbara Laurie, former development control committee chairman, said: "This decision is disgraceful. What we don't need is more houses. The ones that have been built aren't selling."