Changes to 600-home Development in Ashington put Forward
The Newcastle Chronicle are reporting that outline permission was originally granted for the overall scheme in April 2000 with the detailed plans for a total of 622 homes approved in August 2004.
Further changes to a 600-home development on the eastern edge of Ashington have been put forward.
Persimmon has applied to replace the 48 properties previously approved with a new mix of 28 properties on a section of the wider Seaton Vale site, to the south of Wansbeck General Hospital.
Outline permission was originally granted for the overall scheme in April 2000 with the detailed plans for a total of 622 homes approved in August 2004.
A planning statement with the latest application explains: ‘These planning permissions were the result of much discussion and negotiation, producing a large-scale scheme based upon a strong design/layout framework.
‘Subsequent substitution applications, including this one, have sought to maintain the principles of this framework while altering house types to better suit an ever-changing market.’
The current approval consists of 40 two-bedroom apartments, seven five-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom house.
The new scheme would result in no apartments and a reduction of 20 in the number of units; there would be 20 three-bedroom homes and eight four-bedroom houses instead.
The statement concludes: ‘The proposals are considered to be in keeping with the principles and values of the extant planning permission.
‘The proposals uphold the values of the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) by creating a mixed and vibrant community through providing new homes which respond to local market needs.
‘This submission therefore allows the development to keep up with market conditions since approval was granted back in 2004.’
Earlier this month, plans for another substitution to result in 29 new detached houses, on a nearby section of the south-west corner of the site, was unanimously approved by the Ashington and Blyth Local Area Council.
This area had already been the subject of a proposal in 2015 to amend what had previously been agreed in order to provide 22 self-build plots.
But due to a lack of interest in these, Persimmon will now build 23 four-bedroom homes and six three-bedroom properties.