Plans to expand a County Durham housing estate with a further 299 homes have been rejected.
Councillors voted down an application from housing developer Barratt Homes to build more homes on the Whitworth Park Estate in Spennymoor after hearing residents’ concerns.
The proposal detailed plans for a mix of bungalows and houses while also providing ‘affordable’ housing for first-time buyers.
The application was recommended for approval by the Durham County Council's planning department, but members of the authority's planning committee ruled that the proposed location to the north of the recently constructed housing development, also known as Burton Woods, at the northwestern edge of Spennymoor, is not sustainable.
Spennymoor county councillor Liz Maddison previously voted against other phases of the housing development because of the impact the excess homes would have on local services.
“This phase six application will significantly add to those pressures,” she told the hearing.
The Independent councillor added: “Whitworth Park Estate has been a building site for more than 20 years much to the distress of residents. Work from the original decisions is still ongoing. Residents are fed up.
“The number of homes built are now well in excess of the original planned 700 homes. A community facility and 18-hole golf course on an original plan have not been built. In my view and that of the residents, this development in this location is not welcomed. Once this open space is lost it is lost forever.”
Pete Molloy, also a Spennymoor councillor, said the land has not been allocated for housing in the County Durham Plan and would require residents to become almost solely reliant on using vehicles for daily needs, increasing safety concerns of speeding traffic.
He added: “I have been in communication with residents who have been living on what is effectively a construction site for over a decade, and it is unfair on those residents to endure many more years living on a construction site.”
Other concerns with the proposal included the impact on local GP services and that community funding provided by the developer for health services and to help improve bus services and “wouldn’t even touch the sides”.
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Ian Broughton, a resident objecting, told the meeting that underdeveloped brownfield sites in Spennymoor should be prioritised.
The developer had proposed up to 200 ‘affordable’ homes on the new site. Amy Ward, planning manager at Barratt Homes, said: “The proposal will go a long way to addressing the high demand for housing in Spennymoor and affordable housing across the county.
But leading the vote to refuse the application, councillor Alan Bell warned: “These people could be literally housebound. How are they going to access services?” The application was refused by seven votes to five due to its visual harm on the landscape and the loss of agricultural land.
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