Bid to build new homes off Hartlepool's Summerhill Lane succeeds after five-year wait
Plans to build new homes have been approved five years after the idea was first proposed.
Proposals had been lodged with Hartlepool Borough Council planning department to provide nine three and four-bedroom homes at Southbrooke Farm, off Summerhill Lane.
A similar application to provide 14 properties from Mike Dickinson was previously rejected by the local authority’s planning committee in 2021 and an appeal to the national Planning Inspectorate was later dismissed.
The latest proposals from Compass Developments (NE) initially sought to deliver the same number of homes before being reduced during the application process to nine.
The scheme will include two three bedroom and seven four-bed properties.
The application went before the council’s planning committee and was approved by five votes to one.
This was in line with recommendations from local authority officers who noted “the significant benefits of bringing a brownfield site back into use”.
The approval is subject to the completion of a section 106 legal agreement securing funds from the developer to mitigate the impacts of the scheme.
This includes £10,000 towards borough-wide biodiversity compensation, £2,250 each for sports facilities and green infrastructure, £2,099.61 towards playing pitches and £513.18 for tennis court improvements.
Councillor Karen Oliver, sitting on the committee, voted against the proposals, arguing the borough needs a greater variety of properties such as bungalows.
She said: “I am concerned about the number of three and four bedroom houses looking the same, using up every piece of green space that we have.”
A planning statement from JT Planning noted the “high quality” scheme will improve the “dilapidated state of the land” and “deliver much needed housing for the local area”.