A former farm shed around two miles south of Hexham could be demolished and replaced with two four-bedroom detached homes under plans submitted to the council.
The proposal, prepared by the Michie Group, covers land west of Eastland Banks House on Yarridge Road. Known as Eastland Banks Big Shed, the site forms part of the former Eastland Banks farm steading and lies within the Green Belt.
What has been proposed
The application seeks full planning permission to remove the existing agricultural building and construct two family homes. Each house would have three levels, gardens, a driveway and parking. Six parking spaces would be provided across the development.
The proposed layout is designed around the sloping nature of the site. Planning documents say the homes would appear as single-storey buildings when viewed from Yarridge Road, while they would look like three-storey properties from the north.
The development site is positioned among existing and approved residential properties near the crossroads of Yarridge Road and Dipton Mill Road.
Green Belt planning argument
The existing steel-framed building was constructed in the 1970s and has mainly been used to store agricultural machinery and grain. It covers a site of about 1,793 square metres and contains approximately 504 square metres of floorspace.
The wider former farm steading originally consisted of three agricultural buildings. In its planning statement, the applicant acknowledges that the proposed scheme would be “inappropriate development” in the Green Belt, but argues that “very special circumstances” justify granting permission.
The applicants point to an existing prior approval as an alternative if the latest application is rejected. That approval would allow the same agricultural building to be converted into three homes.
According to the planning statement, the two new houses would reduce the built footprint by 61 per cent and the overall volume by 14.8 per cent compared with the current building. The statement says: “The proposal therefore results in materially less built development on the site than exists at present and is less than the fallback position.”
The supplied planning report does not state when the application will be decided or whether a consultation deadline has been set. The proposal remains subject to the planning process.