Eastgate Regeneration Plans

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Comment by Crispy on December 4, 2009 at 10:05am

Latest email from John:

I’m pleased to report, although some of you may well already be aware of the news, that Government Office has decided not to call in the outline planning application for a public inquiry. The County Council is therefore now able to grant consent although we have some work to do in finalising the s106 Agreement before any formal letter of consent is issued.

Durham County Council has agreed in principle to be the lead body in respect of delivering the regeneration of the site. This is likely to entail them taking on ownership of the site from Lafarge, probably in a phased arrangement, and then entering into agreements with end users and developers for certain aspects of the scheme. An initial phase of development is being worked up which is likely to centre on employment activities (a range of business accommodation, the biomass development and initial infrastructure works) – this phase is likely to be public sector led and consequently some work is necessary to pull together the required funding and establish end demand for what is being proposed. Further progress will be reported in the New Year.

Many thanks to all of you who have supported the development proposals. This is a significant step forward for the Task Force although the really hard work now starts in trying to deliver something on site!

Regards

John

Comment by Crispy on November 12, 2009 at 9:45pm

The next hurdle has been successfully negotiated:

No call in for green village

Plans for green village in Weardale passed another significant milestone today after the government announced it will not call-in the application.

Durham County Council resolved at its Strategic Planning Committee meeting on 29 September to grant outline planning permission if the secretary of state chose not to call-in.

The application is therefore now essentially approved, subject to the signing of the legal agreement which is expected within the next few weeks.

Plans for the village include 65 homes, a hotel and spa and outdoor sports facilities. It will be powered by wind, solar, hydro, biomass and geothermal technologies.

Weardale Task Force chair, John Hamilton said: "We are absolutely delighted that the Government Office for the North East has decided not to ‘call in’ the outline planning application for this important project. This will mean we can move in to delivery at the earliest opportunity.

"We are delighted that the work we have done in consultation with the local community over the past six years has been recognised by GONE. This decision endorses the professional and thorough job the team has done to date and the significant economic benefits the scheme could bring to Weardale."

From here

Comment by Crispy on October 2, 2009 at 4:20pm

Just had an email from John the project manager with some more info on what happens next:

I am delighted to confirm that Durham County Council’s Strategic Planning Committee voted unanimously on 29th September in favour of the outline planning application for the Eastgate Renewable Energy Village. This is only a ‘minded to approve’ decision as the application now has to be referred to Government Office for the North East to decide whether to call it in for a public inquiry or to allow DCC to determine the application. We expect Government Office to take a couple of months to mull this over and I’d be very surprised if they felt that a public inquiry was necessary. I’m therefore hopeful that before the end of the year we will have a formal outline planning consent for the Eastgate proposals. Following the formal issue of planning approval there is a theoretical period for objectors to seek a judicial review of the decision but again I don’t expect this to happen.

I’ve attached a copy of the planning officer’s committee report which usefully sets out the proposed planning conditions. We’re also finalising a s106 Planning Agreement although this relates in the main to the affordable housing requirements, future management arrangements, travel plan issues, etc.

Hope this is useful and many thanks for your continued support to the project. I’ll be in touch further once we hear from Government Office.

The full report is attached but the mentions of mountain biking are as follows:

Description of the proposals
...Mountain biking is the most extensive active recreation use proposed, extending from the quarry areas down to the bottom of the Slopes by the Stanhope-Westgate back road from where cyclists can make their way to the Works Area by a single access track across the Riverside Meadows.....

....A cable car will link the Renewable Energy Village to the Tops where its terminus is to form part of a complex including a café, viewing platforms and a bird watching/ecology centre. This point will be the hub of recreational activity on the slopes and tops. Other proposals to the south of the river include a rural crafts centre, a rare breeds farm and a dry toboggan run – the latter, like the mountain biking, taking full advantage of the wide, steep incline of the slopes to create one of the longest run of its kind in the country.....

Public Responses

Support

• Having a world class riding area almost on the doorstep sounds fantastic.
• Biking is a great way to stay healthy and is great way to get round and see the beautiful countryside the area has to offer.
• If this development goes ahead it would be a fantastic addition for the area as well as the UK towards providing world class trail riding. Introducing a highlight for a much undervalued and under rated sport.


Objections

• Will be a considerable blot on the landscape.
• Any inclusion of mountain bike tracks should revert back to earlier plans to utilise the quarry for outdoor activities.
• There is already a site close by at Hamsterley that is bidding to become ‘England’s first Premier Mountain Biking Centre.’ There is only limited amount of money around and it does not make sense to set up a rival mountain bike centre.
• The sporting elements are spectacularly unsuitable for a sensitive upland landscape and would generate sufficient road traffic to undermine any environmental credentials
the rest of the development might have.
• A highly visibly intrusive uplift facility would heavily dominate the view of the slopes.


Planning Committee report (290909).pdf

Comment by Crispy on March 4, 2009 at 11:53am

The plans have been updated and will be resubmitted shortly - see full update here

Comment by Crispy on December 9, 2008 at 10:21am

There's not been an update on the Weardale Works site for a while so I emailed John Topliss who is the project manager for One Northeast to find out where this is up to:

- They have been in discussion with the various statutory consultees (Natural England, AONB Partnership, DCC Highways, etc) for some time trying to resolve their outstanding concerns. They hope to conclude this before Christmas and hope by then they will have all the consultees fully on board.

- They have had to provide a raft of additional information (ecology surveys, landscape appraisals, etc) and make a number of changes to the masterplan. As a result, Wear Valley DC are likely to re-consult on the changes in the New Year and will hopefully then take the matter to their Planning Committee in March.

- Because of the nature of the application, the Committee will only be able to give a ‘minded to approve’ decision following which the application will have to be referred to Government Office for them to decide whether to allow the application to be granted approval or to hold a public inquiry.

John is going to send me an updated version of the masterplan once he has it which I'll post up here.