Skerningham garden village moves to consultation
A draft masterplan to bring up to 3,700 homes to 1,200 acres north-east of Darlington has been developed by Banks Property and Skerningham Estates.
Lichfields is the planning consultant for the project, and is running the consultation process.
Darlington Council was recently asked to sign off a draft design code to set a planning context for the first 1,650 homes at the garden village as progress is sought.
Banks is the lead developer for the 600 homes on the western part of the phase one allocation (west of the East Coat mainline), with Skerningham Estates leading on the remaining 1,050 homes.
In time, the wider site should accommodate new schools, healthcare facilities, shops, pubs, cafés, commercial space, leisure services and amenities, landscaping and community spaces, together with an improved road system. In all, six phases are envisaged.
The public consultation is now live and will run until 19 November as the partners look to pull together support for the draft masterplan and move to planning.
The partners said that their ambition is a development concept that will create a liveable and sustainable community, designed around prioritising residents’ health, wellbeing and overall quality of life.
Neil Westwick, senior director at Lichfields’ Newcastle office, said people are encouraged to take the opportunity to become involved through consultation and share their views on the scheme with feedback to help inform the scope of the final planning submission.
He said: “We are pleased to share the comprehensive masterplan with the local community and we look forward to receiving feedback. Skerningham is already well-known to local residents, who have been asking for more details about what the development will include.
“The masterplan provides further detail on what is proposed at the site, the infrastructure that will be provided and the phasing of the development.”
Elsewhere in the Darlington area, Hellens Group is bringing forward the Burtree Garden Village site, which received a £43m funding boost from Homes England earlier this year. The Hellens scheme was awarded Garden Communities status by the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government in 2019.
Pity they have only told 4,000 people, by leaflet, about this lightning-fast consultation. Where’s the Northern Echo advert or the council publicity? Or don’t they want Darlington’s other 105,000-plus residents to know?
By Peter Greenwood
Diabolical. Car dependent, urban sprawl on valued green space and community woodland. And houses are not needed because Darlington already has 17 years worth of housing land supply (See Appeal Decision for Burtree, 2019), and is 382% above the Government recommended figures for Darlington.
By Anonymous