DEVELOPERS appealing a rejected proposal for 430 homes on land between sections of Newton Aycliffe and Woodham Village will have their case heard next month.

A four-day planning inquiry into the application to build on land at Woodham Burn will be held at The Work Place, on Heighington Lane, Aycliffe Business Park, starting at 10am on April 17.

Applicant Willmott Partnership Homes, in planning documents submitted to Durham County Council (DCC), said the proposal represented “sustainable development” which would bring “significant economic, social and environmental benefits”.

As well as the building of up to 430 new homes, the development would also include the construction of a new signal-controlled access point off the A167.

In its submission it detailed a previous proposal was accepted on appeal for an application to build an outdoor leisure development on the site incorporating a riding school, golf driving range and fitness trail.

However, when DCC’s Planning Committee met to discuss the proposal in February last year, councillors refused the applicant’s proposal on the basis it would “result in transformative effects upon the character of the area and setting of Newton Aycliffe/Woodham resulting in significant adverse landscape harm to a valued landscape and designated green wedge (land)”.

Among the members to speak against the plan was Newton Aycliffe county Cllr John Clare who believes the development would have a negative impact on both the landscape and wildlife.

Cllr Clare, who has made representations to the Planning Inspectorate, said: “The nub of the case at appeal is likely to be whether the field is ‘valued land’.

“DCC regard it as such because it is a separation between Newton Aycliffe and Woodham Village, and I do on account of its contribution, as part of the Woodham Burn corridor, to the ecological health of the town.”

In June, 2016, a consultation event was held where residents raised concerns about pressures on infrastructure, potential traffic impacts on the A167 and the potential for a new access point isolating the new estate from the Woodham Village community.