A PLANNING application for a new housing estate of up to 190 homes has been submitted for review.

Earlier this year, Durham-based Banks Property revealed outline proposals for housing on a 7.4-hectare site on Pelton Lane, in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street.

The outline planning application has now been submitted to Durham County Council and is expected to go before the authority’s planning committee in the first half of 2017.

Banks Property carried out several consultation exercises with residents, community groups and businesses about the plans over the last few months.

More than 50 people attended three drop-in sessions staged in the area and the company says feedback about the project has been overwhelmingly favourable.

Lewis Stokes, from The Banks Group, said: “We’re very pleased with the constructive local discussions we’ve had over recent months around our Pelton Lane proposals, and especially with the relationship we’ve been able to build with the members of the Newfield and Pelton Lane Residents Association, who have engaged very positively with the consultation process.

“Our developments are always designed to bring a range of economic, employment, environmental, supply chain and social benefits to the areas in which they’re based, and we’ve had some extremely useful ideas from local people on how we might do this at Pelton Lane.

“Our Pelton Lane scheme would be located on a site that has previously been identified as suitable for this sort of development and is in an area where we are certain there will be strong demand for the homes that would be built on this site.

“We’re very pleased to have reached this important landmark in the project’s development, and look forward to making what we believe to be a very strong case for its approval when it comes up for determination next year.”

A fourth drop-in session on the Pelton Lane proposals will be held in the Community Rooms at Pelton Roseberry Primary School on Monday, January 9 between 3pm and 7pm.