A PROPOSAL to convert a disused building into a home on land near Sedgefield has been recommended for refusal.
Durham County Council’s Planning Committee will make a decision tomorrow (September 22) on the application to change the use of the main structure on the area of open countryside, off Spring Lane.
The plan is a resubmission of a previously refused scheme which was later dismissed on appeal.
A senior planning officer has recommended it is turned down by councillors on the grounds that it would be an isolated dwelling in an “unsustainable location” in the open countryside without special justification.
It was refused for the same reason in 2015 – a decision which was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate on April 26 this year.
In the officer’s conclusion, she states: “It is accepted that the building is disused and in poor condition but it is not considered that sufficient evidence has been submitted which adequately demonstrates that the building is capable of conversion or reuse without substantial or complete rebuilding.”
The land was previously used as a coal yard and haulage business which closed in about 1993. Since then, the document states there have been a number of unauthorised uses on the land with periods of no use.
The officer added: “It is the Local Planning Authority’s view that there is no lawful use of the site due to the mix of unauthorised uses that have taken place since the haulage business ceased.”
Sedgefield Town Council requested the proposal to be referred to the Planning Committee due to the site’s “extensive history”.
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