A HOUSING development has been given the go-ahead despite fears it would stand in the way of building a new village school.

Durham Villages Regeneration Company, part owned by Durham County Council and housebuilder Keepmoat, has been granted planning permission for 40 homes next to Oakfield Crescent in Bowburn.

Members of the council’s area planning committee voted 5-4 to allow the development yesterday (Tuesday, October 21) after hearing residents’ concerns that it would effectively block the building of a new primary school for the village.

A previous application for 43 houses on the same 1.1-hectare site was rejected last year, with the decision upheld at appeal, amid concerns that the new development would overshadow existing householders.

Developers came back with revised plans for fewer houses and greater separation between the proposed new homes and existing ones.

Planning officials recommended that the new application be approved, but Cassop-Cum-Quarrington Parish Council objected to the scheme, along with the governors of Bowburn Infants and Junior Schools and Bowburn and Parkhill Community Partnership.

The site stands next to Bowburn Junior School’s playing fields, which local campaigners hoped would eventually house a new primary school for the village.

Addressing the meeting, Cllr Mike Syer, from the parish council, said talks were already underway to amalgamate the village’s 105-year-old infant school and the junior school, opened in 1975, into a single primary school.

If finance became available, he said, it was hoped that the new larger school would be built on the junior school site, but there would be insufficient land if the housing development went ahead.

He said: “It has to go there – there is no other land owned by the council in the area.

“Since the junior school was built, the village has practically doubled in size.

“The junior school field is not big enough to build the new school."

However, council officials said they calculated that a 600-pupil school, big enough for the number of children currently in the village, could be accommodated on the site.

Speaking after the meeting, Keepmoat Land and Partnerships Director, Ian Prescott said: “We have worked with the council to address the initial concerns and have been able to increase the distance between existing properties and the new homes and soften the look of the development for those who will overlook it.

“This scheme will improve the quality and choice of housing in the county and help meet the ever increasing demand for new homes.”