Approval recommended for Gleeson 276-home Gateshead site
The developer is hoping its bid to turn the former BAE factory site into a residential estate will get the go-ahead at the council’s planning meeting.
Permission for a 298-house estate was granted back in 2012 to BAE Systems Property Investments, but a disagreement with the council about how much affordable housing the project could sustain brought the scheme to a standstill in 2015.
Since then, Gleeson, supported by Edward Architecture and Pegasus, has worked on alternate plans for the 70-acre plot of land, which lies on the western edge of Birtley and to the east of the East Coast mainline railway.
The new scheme proposes a mix of two-storey two-. three-, and four-bed houses, with no bungalows proposed although 68% of the homes would be designed to be accessible and adaptable.
In terms of affordable housing, the planning statement notes: ‘In this instance, the delivery of affordable housing associated with the redevelopment of this site would make the development unviable.
‘Submitted with the application is an up-to-date Viability Assessment, prepared by Gleeson Homes Ltd, which demonstrates how the provision of affordable dwellings is not viable given the context and characteristics of the Site.’
A recent update to the planning statement also notes that, due to changes in the NPPF, ‘there is a clear direction of travel from the Government which is to significantly deliver more homes to support local communities and to help stimulate economic growth…
‘Where a local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing sites, the presumption in favour of sustainable development will apply.’
The former industrial site does not have an allocation in the Local Plan, and is neighboured by Venator Pigments’ 28-acre factory, which produces a range of additives for the paint and coatings industry, as well as residential estates.
