The development of affordable homes in a County Durham village will proceed after plans were given the green light today (11th February) by Durham County Council.
Affordable house builder Adderstone Living will build 56 houses on a 4-ha site to the north and east of Petwell Cottage off Sunderland Road, in Easington Village.
The scheme will offer a mix of two, three, and four-bedroom properties, including six bungalows.
Housing association believe housing, which will manage the homes after construction, anticipates more than half will be made available for social rent, with the remainder offering Rent to Buy and shared ownership opportunities.
Emma Moon, senior planning manager of Adderstone Living, who oversaw the planning submission, said: “This is great news for local people keen to get a step on the housing ladder. We will not only be providing much-needed homes for local people, but will also be contributing to enhancing the village.”
A recent report by Durham County Council showed that the housing register in the county has increased by about 30%, rising from 7,686 active applicants in 2020 to 10,999 in 2024.
The waiting list is growing in part due to higher rents in the private sector, which result in affordability and supply issues, and because of decades of underinvestment in social housing.
Tom Winter, assistant director of development at believe housing, said: “We’re committed to providing healthy homes, where they are needed and, with high demand for affordable housing to rent and buy in this area, we’re confident this site will help us to achieve that.
“One of our recent developments in Easington Village was incredibly popular, with some homes receiving over 200 bids, and there are currently more than 400 people on our waiting list for affordable homeownership opportunities in the area.
“Now that planning permission has been granted, we look forward to working with Adderstone Living to deliver high-quality, energy-efficient homes that meet people’s needs and aspirations and to see our investment in new homes have a positive impact on the wider community.”
The landscape-led Easington Village scheme has been designed to create a ‘very strong sense of place’, according to Adderstone Living, with new access to the development from Sunderland Road just to the north of the Fennell Grove combining with community space and improvements to public rights of way.
The introduction of a pedestrian link near the site’s entrance with a further southeastern link proposed, which will link into the neighbouring residential development, will deliver enhanced connectivity to the wider area.
Approval of the plan comes as Adderstone Living continues to see strong demand for its ‘land-led’ solutions, which involves the sourcing of suitable land, scheme design and securing of planning permission before delivering quality new homes.
Emma Moon added: “The delivery of social housing has never been more important than at present with commercial pressures on the sector to deliver high quality schemes in places where people want to live and build communities. This development and other schemes coming on stream across the North East, will help to address the shortfall.”