Northumberland Estates resubmits plans for housing development in Backworth

The Duke of Northumberland’s property firm wants to build homes on land at Backworth Business Park, Eccleston Close – this time for 43 properties.

Plans for 57 homes were rejected by North Tyneside Council in February last year, before going to a successful appeal in October.

A nearby vegetable processing firm, Keenan Processing Ltd, highlighted concerns that if the previous application for 57 homes was permitted, it would have led to restrictions on the business operations, particularly with early morning noise.

Councillors ultimately decided the homes would “adversely impact” existing businesses and refused the application.

The committee also raised concerns that the prospective homes would impact highway safety. This is despite a report from council officers which stated noise and traffic levels were deemed acceptable.

However, subsequent documents in the most recent application reveal Northumberland Estates has now acquired the processing plant and intends to decommission the site, alongside another former commercial building, Prosperous House.

According to the planning inspectorate, the acquisition of the neighbouring business premises, the withdrawal of their objection and planned cessation of the operations at the business premises amounts to “a material change in circumstances”.

The planning inspectorate also stated there was no evidence that the proposed noise mitigation by Northumberland Estates would not have been sufficient in last February’s application. The inspector dismissed the planning committee’s concerns about increased traffic.

A date has not been set for plans to come before North Tyneside Council’s planning committee.