More homes approved for Newcastle Great Park as councillor declares she's 'fed up' with developers

Newcastle City Council has backed proposals for another phase of housebuilding at the Great Park estate.

The green light for Banks Property’s vision of a further 73 houses at the huge development site came despite concerns over a shortage of infrastructure for existing and future residents.

The Great Park has long been the subject of complaints surrounding a lack of shops, unfinished roads and paths, limited bus routes, and an absence of GP surgeries.

46 objections to the plans from Banks, the Durham-based firm which is also behind the 800-home Kingston Village development due to be built nearby, had been made ahead of a planning committee hearing on Friday.

Locals described the estate as a “mess” and said that housebuilding should be put on hold until “basic amenities” were delivered.

And councillors heard that a late objection from Hazlerigg Parish Council branded the latest plans “unsustainable” due to lack of infrastructure, saying they will increase traffic congestion and harm biodiversity.

Less than a month ago, the council “reluctantly” approved plans for 140 houses on land between the Great Park and Hazlerigg village.

While that project attracted criticism for being half a mile from a bus stop and up to 20 minutes walk from the Great Park town centre, city planners said these homes would be just a few minutes from schools and shops.

The homes will be located on fields in between Brunton Lane and Rose Tree Avenue.

Council officers had admitted that the land was “not necessarily envisaged” for housing, but that the development would deliver “significant benefits” by creating new homes, a children’s play area, and a net gain for biodiversity.

Liberal Democrat councillor Doreen Huddart was the only planning committee member to vote against granting outline planning permission for the scheme, criticising it for only having four affordable homes in the development itself and paying £806,400 sum to the council in lieu of a further seven.

Coun Huddart said: “I am fed up with looking at these proposals which have off-site affordable homes, ‘let’s put them somewhere else’. I don’t think that is acceptable anymore.

“I would like to see far more affordable homes on these developments so that we get a mixture of tenures and people.

“I have a problem with it and we are going to have this time and time again. We have a developer who only wants to provide houses they can sell and not the kind of rental homes and social homes that we are desperate for.

“We have far too big a housing waiting list for people who need those properties.”