Council officers have come under fire after plans for more than 80 energy-efficient homes were rejected. 

Plans for the new properties on land at Moorside, near Consett, at the site of the old Moorside Pub proposed 84 two and three-bedroom homes with solar panels and car charging points. 

Adderstone Living, the applicant, says 70 jobs would be created to construct the development while also benefiting from multi-million investment. The housing association has worked with social housing provider Thirteen to deliver affordable housing at the site and demand for the proposed properties has been high since they were revealed. 

The Northern Echo: How the Moorside site could lookHow the Moorside site could look (Image: The Northern Echo)

It added that Durham County Council confirmed the housing market for this area has a need for the outlined affordable homes during the pre-application process.  

However the authority’s planning officers have refused to rubber stamp the plans. The ambitious proposal’s size, layout and character were all criticised by officers when considering the application. 

Michael Kelleher - head of planning and housing at Durham County Council said in his decision notice: “The proposed development is not allocated for housing in the County Durham Plan 2020 or well related to the adjacent settlement of Moorside, being not appropriate in terms of scale, layout, and location to the character, function, form and setting of the settlement.

“It is not supported by sufficient evidence of a pressing identified local need for affordable housing. It therefore does not show that the benefits of development clearly outweigh the harm that will result to [the] landscape.”

The Northern Echo: The site was the location of the former Moorside HotelThe site was the location of the former Moorside Hotel (Image: The Northern Echo)

Yet the applicant believes the housing development would breathe new life into the disused area. 

Ian Baggett, CEO of Adderstone Group, said: “After the immense effort and investment that my colleagues and I put into this planning application over two years, it was disappointing that 8 of the 16 committee members chose not to attend or appoint a substitute. It was even more disappointing that they went on to conclude that the protection of the landscape was more important than the delivery of 84 much needed and highly sustainable affordable homes, which would also include £13m of inward investment, £4m of grants from central Government and 70 jobs.”

“I was born down the road from this site in Shotley Bridge and grew up in the Derwent Valley, when the mines, coke and steel works were thriving.  It saddens me that the Council just doesn't seem bothered or brave enough to prioritise the investment, jobs and homes so badly needed if the villages in north Durham are ever to thrive again."

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