PLANS to regenerate an industrial estate with a major housing development on the outskirts Peterlee have been approved.

Durham County Council’s Regeneration and Economic Development Service submitted an application through planning consultant Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, for the construction of 390 new homes on the North East Industrial Estate.

The proposals approved by county planning committee today (July 1) include the clearance of redundant and outdated factory buildings and help for affected businesses to relocate and the redevelopment of nearly 20 hectares of land for new housing.

The plans are in accordance with the County Durham Local Plan and which will help to meet the requirement for 1,830 new homes in the area by 2030, members were told.

Many of the estate’s larger employers have already relocated. Walkers Snack Foods and Kookaburra Foods will be not be part of proposals.

The plans include comprise a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes, landscaping and public open space, as well as a new road which will integrate the new scheme with neighbouring residential areas and routes to the town centre.

The £30m scheme is expected to create more than 100 jobs in construction and supply chain, with £2.4m in the additional annual expenditure in the area.

Neil Foster, cabinet member for Regeneration and Economic Development, said: "The site has significant capacity to assist in meeting the need for new homes and the submission of these exciting proposals is one of a number of key steps we are taking with landowners to help bring this brownfield site forward as a major development opportunity.”