A PLANNING appeal has begun into a developer’s long-running attempt to build new homes on an edge of town site has opened.

Bellway Homes is appealing against Durham County Council’s refusal of planning permission for a development to include 75 houses on land south of Dalton Heights, in Seaham.

The proposed site would fill a large stretch of farmland between the A19 and the B1285 road, connecting southern Seaham to the dual carriageway and Murton.

The Newcastle-based developer’s proposals have been met by opposition, particularly from villagers in nearby Dalton-le-Dale, who fear their community would be swallowed up within an expanded township of Seaham.

They, along with residents of Dalton Heights, in Seaham, also raised concerns about flooding and highway safety on the B1285 and the loss of residential amenity.

Bellway previously saw plans for 135 homes on the site refused, in 2015, and a smaller application in 1998 was rejected by the former Easington District Council and by a Government inspector on appeal.

Opening case for Bellway Homes, barrister Andrew Williamson said the there would be a “robust landscaped boundary” to the settlement and the company agreed with the council’s own officers that the development would be acceptable in landscape and visual terms.

He added, it would be argued that council did not have an adequate five-year supply of housing land as required by national policy.

And, while the site is in flood zone, suitable mitigation measures would make the site safe for development.

Barrister John Barrett, speaking on behalf of the council, said the proposals, if allowed, would result in a fundamental change of the rural character of the area and be seen as a “signficiant incursion into the open countryside”.

He added, it would be materially harmful to the separation of the two settlements.

Almost 100 letters of objection were submitted during consultation and Dalton-le-Dale Parish Council and Seaham Town Council also lodged their opposition.

The latest plans for 75 two, three and four-bedroomed homes were turned down by the county council, in June last year, despite a recommendation by planning officers that they they be approved.

The planning appeal hearing, expected to carry on into next week is being heard by independent inspector David Wildsmith at the Glebe Centre in Murton.