A planning application for a new residential development near Chester-le-Street has won the support of the local tenants and residents association.
Over the last three months, Durham-headquartered Banks Property has been carrying out a range of consultations with local people, community groups and businesses about plans for a new housing scheme on a 7.4 hectare site on Pelton Lane in Pelton.
As part of this work, a number of meetings have been held with the Newfield & Pelton Lane Ends Residents Association to allow its members to ask questions about and obtain full details of the proposed scheme, which will be comprised of up to 190 new family homes.
And now, Norman Long, chair of the group, has written to Durham County Council on its behalf, outlining its support for the proposals.
He says: “Representatives from the Banks Group attended the Newfield and Pelton Lane Ends Residents Association on several occasions to explain their plans for this site to members, and they have also held pop in sessions at Pelton Community Centre and Roseberry Primary School Community Rooms, as well as delivering information leaflets to the area.
“They have made an excellent effort in trying to keep the community informed, and their representatives have been very helpful in answering any questions raised by residents, so we would therefore like to support the application submitted by them for this development.”
More than 60 people attended four drop-in sessions that Banks Property put on in the local area in December and January, with the overwhelming majority of feedback received about the project plans being favourable.
Ideas for how the new development could support local priorities for community improvement have also been discussed during the consultation process.
The planning application is expected to come before Durham County Council’s planning committee in the coming months.
Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at The Banks Group, which numbers 126 people from County Durham among its 400-strong workforce, says: “The members of Newfield and Pelton Lane Ends Residents Association have played a very full and proactive part in the local discussions that we’ve been undertaking around this project, and we’re very pleased that they have felt happy to support the ideas that we’ve outlined.
“Our team has been able to have constructive discussions right across the community about this project, and the ideas that have been gathered have been very useful in helping to identify ways in which it might bring wider benefits to the local area. We’re looking forward to continuing this effective, working relationship.
“This is a carefully designed scheme that would be located on a site ideally suited to this type of development, and we are certain there will be strong demand for the homes that would be built, so we hope Durham County Council’s planning committee will recognise our planning application’s many merits when it eventually comes to review it.”
For further information on the Pelton Lane scheme, and to sign up in support of it, please visit www.banksgroup.co.uk/