At the centre of a storm
NEW HOMES PLAN GETS GO-AHEAD DESPITE OBJECTIONS
A BACKLASH from business, the environmental lobby and thousands of locals failed to halt plans for up to 1,200 new homes at Newcastle’s Great Park.
The proposals, involving the next phase of the development, were approved by the city council’s planners yesterday.
The scheme, put together by Newcastle Great Park Consortium, includes-building a first school for 450 pupils and a middle/ high school for 1,710.
Part of the site is located on green belt land, where playing fields and a changing pavilion are to be built.
The project sparked objections from people worried about the impact on wildlife, traffic, loss of green belt and the effect on the nearby Havannah and Three Hills Local Nature Reserve.
More than 3,600 people signed an online petition.
In addition, Newcastle International Airport raised concerns. Graeme Mason, the airport’s planning and corporate affairs director, said: “The airport is one of the most important economic assets for the North East. It’s critical for the region that we are able to grow in the future.
“The proposed dwellings are very close to the end of the runway. The whole site is close to a busy international airport.”
He said potential homeowners must be informed they would be living near a “24 hour, 365 days a year airport”.
He added: “The residents who buy these houses need to be aware that there would be aircraft noise where they are living.”
Officers said conditions would be added to the plan requiring the developers design homes in a way residents would not suffer high levels of noise disturbance.
Rachel Locke, for Save Newcastle Wildlife, said the scheme would harm the nature reserve and wildlife, and said Havannah was the “only place we know of in Newcastle where red squirrels are thriving”.
She also said mitigation measures proposed were not enough and that a 30m buffer zone near the reserve was “woefully inadequate”.
She added: “The development severely compromises wildlife and biodiversity. The true impact has not been assessed. We urge you to refuse this harmful proposal.”
But David Abercrombie, project director for Newcastle Great Park, said the development was delivering “not mitigation, but betterment”.
He added: “We are starting to see much more interest in family homes and the park is a place of choice for people to live.
“There’s no substantial harm to biodiversity. As a whole, the Great Park will actually have a net gain in biodiversity.
“There really are huge benefits here, not just for biodiversity but for schools, infrastructure and community facilities.”
The consortium is to provide affordable housing on the site as well as cash towards bus services, highway and junction improvements, allotments, nature conservation and habitat management.