Nature Reserve housing concerns

A political row has erupted over fears a nature reserve overlooking Durham’s UNESCO World Heritage Site could be considered for future housing development, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar.

Liberal Democrat councillor Mark Wilkes has urged Durham County Council to remove Aykley Wood Nature Reserve from its list of sites for potential development.

But Reform insisted no decisions have been made and accused the opposition of causing unnecessary alarm.

The heated exchange took place as councillors debated the authority’s latest update on work to create a new County Durham Plan, following the publication of hundreds of sites submitted through its “call for sites” exercise.

Cllr Wilkes, member for Framwellgate and Newton Hall ward, described the 18-hectare Aykley Wood Nature Reserve as an important environmental asset “in full view” of Durham’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He told councillors that cabinet “shouldn’t have allowed it to have been put forward.”

A petition calling for the site to be removed from call for sites list, and set up by Cllr Wilkes, has attracted more than 1,700 signatures from 45 electoral divisions within a few days.

“I politely ask if he’ll immediately remove this land from the scoping exercise,” Cllr Wilkes said, before “any further upset is inflicted on residents across this county”.

Responding, Cllr Quinn stressed that the exercise was only the first stage of the plan-making process.

He said: “Nothing’s been allocated. It’s a scoping exercise. There are over 850 calls for site. Until the plans are finalised, then nothing is concrete.”

The Reform member for Ferryhill said anyone could submit land through the process, including developers, the council and members of the public.

“You could have put a call for sites in on my house or you can put a call for site in on your house,” he told a council scrutiny committee.

“It doesn’t mean it’ll get approved on the plan and it doesn’t mean the planning permission will be approved.

“I think Cllr Wilkes is purposely causing distress to these people by suggesting that this is a done deal. It’s absolutely not a done deal; it is a scoping consultation.”

But Cllr Wilkes questioned why the council had allowed a nature reserve to appear in the consultation documents at all.

“Why would any local authority in sane mind agree to put forward a nature reserve for proposed development?” he asked.

Residents had contacted him in distress over the proposals, with some “crying” on the phone, the meeting was told. 

The dispute comes as parish councils around Durham City have threatened legal action if additional Green Belt land is proposed for development in the next County Durham Plan.

They have said they would “fiercely oppose” any attempt to remove Green Belt protections and are prepared to challenge proposals through both the planning process and the High Court.

The call for sites exercise is the first stage in preparing the new local plan. Land submitted by landowners, developers and other interested parties will be assessed by the council before any preferred development sites are identified for consultation.