HOW did the new Riverwalk development in Durham, so near to the World Heritage Site, get planning permission?

Who thought that the design, massing, density and scale was worthy of our beautiful city?

National and local policies and guidance have been written to protect the city from inappropriate development, so who was responsible for saying yes within the county council’s planning department, the Area Planning Committee (Central and East) as well as the statutory consultees?

Although the front of the development opens up to the river, the sides and rear (the student accommodation blocks) are perfect examples of the dumbing down of architecture that is now prevalent across the city: box shaped buildings, with oblong windows and flat roofs. Surely Durham deserves better than this.

Indeed, it deserves world class architecture that complements the World Heritage Site and its setting.

Sadly it’s too late for this site, but in July 2018 the councillors on the Area Planning Committee refused to give planning permission for the proposed Premier Inn on the Milburngate site, demanding “something of quality” and the need for a “vibrant sympathetic design”. Maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of the fight back for our City.

Angela Tracy, Durham