Fury from protestors after council ‘U-turn’

11:00am Monday 28th April 2008

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A CONTROVERSIAL planning scheme has been approved - despite strong protests.

The owner of Rest Harrow, in Guisborough Road, Nunthorpe, will be able to build three large detached homes in the garden of the property.

The land surrounding the house had been earmarked for development by its owner, Paul Nelson, and Middlesbrough Council's planning officers recommended approval of the plan.

Campaigners have been left disappointed after councillors gave the go-ahead for the application.

A spokesman for the Rest Harrow Group said: "They have now set a precedent for back-land housing developments in Nunthorpe.

"This scheme is completely inappropriate for the area and will change the character of the area for ever.

"We are not opposed to single developments in the gardens of the large properties in the area, but this is more like a miniexecutive estate that is being built."

The site has been the subject of several applications over the past few years, including one last year for a 61-bedroomed care home, which was withdrawn by the applicant.

Protestors said a similar plan in 2005 was refused by planning bosses because it was undesirable.

Earlier this month, the council's development control committee deferred its decision on the application to give campaigners more time to make objections.

A spokesman for the campaign group said: "We had done our research in detail, looking at all the relevant planning policies, and spent hours and hours working on our objections.

"We believe the planning officers have made a massive U-turn on their decision and we definitely believe the planning process has been discredited.

"We feel that what they have done by making this decision is given the go-ahead for future developers to come into Nunthorpe and alter the character of the area by building more and more houses."

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said the planning application was unanimously approved after councillors spent more than an hour considering it.