A HOUSING plan for the derelict site of a former hotel is in jeopardy after planning officials recommended the application be refused.

Developers want to build eight houses on the site of The Raven Inn hotel on Ebchester Bank, near Consett.

But planning officers have recommended the application be refused on the grounds that the site is in an isolated countryside location in the Derwent Valley.

The 28-bed hotel, which in recent years was one of the area’s most popular wedding venues and restaurants, closed six years ago and the buildings have since been demolished.

The 0.6-hectare site, which stands close to the popular Derwent Walk railway path, is now partly covered with rubble and is described by planners as being a “significant blight to the local area for an extended period of time”.

In 2009, permission was granted to demolish the hotel and build 17 houses on the site, subject to a number of planning conditions, despite opposition from The Ebchester Village Trust.

However, while demolition went ahead, development did not go ahead within the agreed timescale and planning permission lapsed.

Now site owner Gurpreet Sohata has submitted an application for eight houses on the land, two at the entrance to the site made of traditional materials and the remaining six of modern appearance on a looped road with views out across the valley.

The applicant says the plan would create high-quality homes on a site which is currently an underused eyesore and would help support local services in nearby Ebchester, while stimulating the local economy by creating construction jobs and demand for building materials.

However, the new application has again attracted criticism from Ebchester Village Trust which described the proposal as “unsustainable” and argues that some of the houses are “intrusive and out-of-character”.

In a submission to Durham County Council, they added that while they would not oppose appropriate modest development on what is a brownfield site, the scale and nature of the scheme was inappropriate to the location.

Members of Durham County Council’s Area Planning Committee North will vote on the application at County Hall on Thursday (June 25).

However, a report to the committee recommends that the application be refused because its isolated countryside location would mean residents relied on cars, while the design of the houses was not sufficiently outstanding to justify the development.