Proposed Housing development on waste land at coronation drive has got Hill view written all over it says one objector.....
Thursday 12th Jan 2023 08:23am
Plans to build 151 new homes on wasteland in Hartlepool “has hill view written allover it” according to one local objector, who says the councils "just not listening to public concerns" over the development.
The council sold off the land to a developer on reportedly "favourable terms" due to the land formally being used as a landfill..
Dozens of objections have now been lodged into a proposed housing development on land at coronation drive in the towns Seaton Carew that many say will cause significant traffic congestion, as well as place further unnecessary strains on local infrastructure, increased demand on local NHS Services & schools as the local council finds the proposals are coming under significant public backlash...
The land, said to have been formally owned by Hartlepool Borough Council was reported to have been sold off for potential future development under plans which were approved by councillors just a couple of years ago.
However its claimed the council then had to revise down its asking price for the land which still to this day remains tightly under wraps as to the exact figure the council managed to sell the land off for when the council cleverly used legislation under the Local Government Act to prevent the details of the actual sale of the land from going into the public domain. ,
Sources however have told Hartlepool Matters that the price given to the council for the land was in fact considerably LESS than the previous asking price the council wanted for the land due to developers finding a number of “issues” on the site that required the council to then go back & revise down its asking price, taking into account the alleged work the land required to make it suitable for development.
Nevertheless, the applicant Gleeson Homes now wants to build 151 homes on the land which locals in the area claim is not in-keeping with the towns local plan, not to mention the significant loss of biodiversity & concerns about the lands previous use some years ago as a landfil site making it unsuitable for development due to the soils on the land being “contaminated”.
The planning application by the developer Gleeson Homes was slid into the councils “major developments” section on its website in sometime in September 2022, with objections to the proposed housing estate flooding in shortly thereafter.
Its like a repeat of the Hill View Saga all over again, & local's sadly know how that went !
Land at Hill View before it was developed into homes two years ago
Whilst the plans have come up against significant public objections, the proposals are reported to be getting looked upon favourably by the councils planning officers, where a source close to the councils planning department said that council officers in the authorities planning department are being quietly nudged towards being told to give recommendations the approval, subject to a number of conditions being agreed.
Locals in the area however claim that despite a deluge of public objection to the proposals, the development has all the hallmarks of the Hill View saga which seen councillors approve a controversial housing development in one of the towns outlying villages despite concerns raised from over 100 objectors over the plans saying the development would severely impact on the area, as well as the impact the development would have on the infrastructure & services in the local vicinity.
Fens and Greatham ward Councillors Jim Lindridge and Angela Falconer pictured outside the 18 home development at Hill View in March 2022
The local council having failed in its first bid to have the development at Hill View approved, on the second, attempt albeit with only a few minor amendments to the plans Councillors then make a remarkable turn around in opinion over the development & controversially approved the scheme, despite the same elected councillors on the previous application raising concerns over the development.
The plans have reignighted the debate over the "brown envelope brigade" being alive & well again at HBC
Hartlepool Borough Councils reputation as the "brown envelope brigade" is well known throuhgouth the country, with its planning department alongside sympathetic councillors approving a number of controversial develpments...
Locals branded the decision at Hill View a “whitewash”, with councillors accused of being “swayed” in their decision making by HBC's council leader Cllr Shane Moore & council officers with alleged vested interest in the development.
At the time Hartlepool Matters published a report that the applicant who'd just happened to be HBC controversially applying to itself for planning permission to build the 18 homes in Greatham, the councils strategic assets manager Timothy Wynn was found to have held the directorships of a number of property development businesses that had in the past worked closely with the then proposed developer who was set to receive the contract to build the homes...
Gus Robinson Developments Ltd, the company poised to build the 18 homes in Greatham & was bought up by teesides controversial provbate landlord Thirteen Housing in 2018 stood to lose a fortune had the development not been approved, with claims made at the time that Thirteen, the parent company of Gus Robinsons was potentially not looking to do further business with Hartlepool Borough Council if the plans wernt approved.
Local residents now fear the same is about to happen once again only this time just a few miles down the road from the previous controversial housing development at Hill View in that local residents concerns over the development at Coronation Drive could in turn be yet another planning “whitewash”, as the council who sold on the land to the developer on favourable terms now ultimately has the power in its hands to approve the development despite public disapproval of the scheme in what could turn out for both the council & the developer to be a canny little earner for both parties, in that the council approving the scheme gets council tax incomes from 151 new Band D homes, on top of the undisclosed profits it made from the disposal of the land to the developer in the first place.
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