Durham County Council’s planning committee unanimously refused the application by developer Oaktree Living for land east of Holdforth Crescent.
Councillors voted in support of the local authority’s planning officers, who warned that the “poor design” of the scheme “would harm the character and appearance of the surrounding area”.
The latest application followed the refusal of an earlier scheme in November 2023. Following that decision, the developer entered into pre-application discussions with council officers to address the concerns and submit a revised proposal.
Yet, speaking at a committee hearing on Thursday, the developer criticised a lack of communication with the council around the plans.
Stephen Litherland, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said multiple attempts to discuss the proposal were not met. “We’re not sure why we’re at the planning committee today because I don’t think this application is clearly ready to be heard. There’s still things that we need to do to put it right,” he said.
The developer requested that the application be deferred to solve the remaining issues. Mr Litherland added: “We’ll go away, we’ll do some homework and hopefully come back with a more positive scheme.”
The latest plans included significant engineering works to raise land levels across the eastern part of the site to accommodate the development.
Councillor John Kinvig, Reform member for Bishop Auckland, backed the proposal and said the proposed social housing would benefit the area.
But despite consultations with relevant bodies, officers concluded the proposal failed to demonstrate it would be an appropriate form of development.
Officers also said insufficient information had been provided to show the development would achieve the required 10 per cent biodiversity net gain or avoid adverse impacts on protected species.
Concerns were also raised over the lack of evidence demonstrating how the proposed housing mix would meet identified local needs and whether an appropriate range of affordable homes would be delivered.
Rob Foster, who lives nearby on South Church Road, warned: “This development would close off one of the last remaining aspects of the oldest passenger railway line in the world. It would just be a shame to lose something like that.”
And Councillor David Freeman, Liberal Democrat member, backed the council’s suggestion to refuse the scheme.
He said: “What we have here is a scheme that is not deliverable to the satisfaction of our planning policies. The applicant has had the time and we have to get to a point where we make a decision.”