THE last part of controversial plans to build more than 100 new homes on the site of a former coal mine have been approved.

Persimmon Homes won its fight to transform the Wardley Colliery site in Gateshead when the authority’s planning committee voted to approve its plans in December 2018.

Gateshead Council’s planning committee went against its own officers who recommended the scheme be rejected.

Planners claimed that allowing the development to go ahead could set a precedent for greenbelt development elsewhere.

But councillors disagreed saying that the development, which is a mixture of two, three, four and five bedroom houses represented a good opportunity to get the former industrial site cleaned up.

At the time Stuart Green, who represents Wardley and Leam Lane, said: “We believe this is our only opportunity to remove this blight from dereliction.”

The Northern Echo:

Now, a “reserved matters” application dealing with landscaping, layout, scale and appearance for the 144 home project, has been give the go-ahead.

The layout, which was approved by the planning committee on Wednesday, includes a spine road, a central area of open space, pedestrian links to Manor Gardens, and the new access road, and parking for visitors and residents.

A report to the committee said: “The layout is logical and in keeping with the physical parameters of the site and provides for a number of cul-de-sacs leading off the spine road from the centrally located open space.”

It also described the separation distances between the homes as “adequate.”
The eastern portion of the site is occupied by the former JW Coats and Sons salvage yard.

The report also described that part of the site as “heavily contaminated” due to its past as a railway siding and vehicle reclamation yard.