Last updated at 19:58, Thursday, 16 February 2012

Plans for 78 homes in Dearham have been approved by Allerdale council.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the Story Homes plan for land off Browside Road at a meeting of the development panel on Tuesday.

The approval is subject to a legal agreement which would see a £221,000 extension to Dearham Primary School to make up for the extra nine places estimated to be required as a result of the new estate.

Story Homes has been asked to design and build the extension and to fund around £108,000 of it, with the remainder of the cash coming from the county council.

This will be the first time that Allerdale council has requested such a requirement from a developer.

Other requirements of the legal agreement include the removal of a colliery spoil mound and the building of four affordable homes.

The council received 21 letters of objection to the proposal which raised concern about the volume of traffic, site access, the strain on sewerage and drainage facilities and a lack of demand for new houses in the village.

Planning officers advised members that although a planning application for 67 houses on the site in 2006 was dismissed on appeal, this was solely on the grounds of the visual impact of the spoil mound.

The new plan proposes dispersing the spoil mound across the site and capping it with topsoil to provide a growing layer. Officers felt that this would overcome the previous grounds for refusal.

The plan also includes a children’s play park in Pottery Park and a footpath link to Dearham Primary School with lockable gates.

The 2.8 hectare site would include 49 four-bedroom houses, 21 three-bedroom houses and eight two-bedroom houses, of which 22 will be semi-detached. The rest will be detached.

A spokeswoman for Story Homes said: “Story Homes has confirmed that in principle they have agreed to provide a pro-rata contribution towards the cost of providing a new classroom.

“The remaining funding will be provided by the county council and further discussions regarding the delivery of the classroom and of working together with the school, the county council and Allerdale council, will take place in the near future.”

First published at 19:21, Thursday, 16 February 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk