PLANS have been submitted to Durham County Council to build seven holiday lodges on land outside the village of Kelloe, near Durham.

The planning application is for seven holiday chalets, site managers accommodation, café with external seating area, access, parking and other associated supporting infrastructure.

Following refusal of the previous application on landscape grounds, additional landscape details have been prepared and submitted.

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A planning statement has been prepared by MD2 Consulting Limited on behalf of the applicants.

It states: "The site is 2.92 hectares in size, although development is proposed on only the northern part of the site towards the edge of the existing village.

"The application site lies immediately South of Sharon Avenue, the main highway through the settlement.

"It lies towards the south-western edge of Kelloe, just over a mile from the larger village of Coxhoe which is due east.

"The proposal is to operate the café as facility for both visitors to the chalets and more widely to benefit the village and the local community, since it will act as a social meeting place.

"The proposed holiday lodges and café will provide a destination for visitors and will be designed to facilitate use by those with limited mobility, by providing level access, so that all may enjoy the rural surrounding landscape.

"We argue, as before, that landscape impacts are both very limited and in keeping with the rural character of the area in an edge of village location.

"We hope that is made clearer by the additional information we have supplied.

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"The proposed holiday lodges are designed to accommodate visitors all-year-round and so is the proposed café, which will not only add value to the visitor experience but will benefit the village by forming a social venue as well as being an economic generator, providing new employment opportunities.

"Ecological Impact Appraisal establishes that the proposal will generate no significant harm to biodiversity and although some hedging will be lost to form the access, no trees will be felled.

"Overall, the proposal makes best use of its edge of village location by providing a well screened, sustainable development of holiday chalets; to generate jobs and wealth, with ancillary benefits for residents, including a community café as well as new landscaping."