Last Thursday, Durham County Council’s Area Planning Committee unanimously approved plans for Keepmoat to develop 175 two, three and four-bedroom houses on Site O at Cobblers Hall, Woodham.
Site O has been earmarked for housing since 1967. Just nine letters of objection were received.
The submission provided no ‘affordable’ houses – they had already been built for the Hawkshead Place development but, as part of the proposal, Durham County Council agreed to ringfence £500,000 from the sale of the land towards the provision of further affordable housing in the local area.
Campaigners who have recently complained about the slow progress of environmental works planned for ‘the Moor’ Nature Reserve will be pleased to see that the County Council has also promised a further £375,000 to restore this wetland.
Included in these works will be a Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme to catch surface run-off from the new estate. This will prevent the bog drying out, but will also reduce the danger of flooding along Woodham Burn by catching flood-water in a large pond.
Local Councillor John Clare described the County Council’s provision as ‘very generous’ and commented: ‘this will secure the Moor as an area of local ecological interest and give the local economy a very significant boost at the same time’.
The terms of the planning permission require the work on the Moor to be completed before building work is allowed to begin. Plans will be submitted shortly, and it is hoped to start the work in early 2014.
