Inquiry hears 600-home scheme 'unsustainable'

A councillor has told a public inquiry a housebuilder's rejected proposal to build 600 homes is "unsustainable".

In March, Stockton Council's planning committee rejected Taylor Wimpey's £133m plan for land east of Holdenfields Farm on Green Lane, Yarm, but the developers appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate.

Conservative councillor Tony Riordan gave evidence to the inquiry stating traffic problems were a concern and highlighted limited capacity to provide electrical supply to the site.

A spokesperson for the developers said the harms caused by the plan "don't come anywhere close" to outweighing the benefits.

Residents had previously raised issues about the development, saying the "infrastructure cannot support" the amount of homes and claimed it would cause "chaos".

Riordan was asked about the council planning committee's "major concern" about traffic and cumulative impact around Yarm, despite a council highways manager's view that the impact would not be severe.

He said: "The severity of the impact was not the sole issue.

"The impacts of queueing, junctions, capacity and their local knowledge of what actually takes place on the road networks within Yarm, those did not match the proposition from the applicant or the advice from the highways officer."

The developer's barrister Sasha White KC said multiple bodies including National Highways and Labour-led Stockton Council's own officer had said "everything's fine" with the plans regarding congestion.

"However you dress it up, you are expecting this inspector to endorse the judgment of unqualified members about the adequacy of information, above that of the five professional experts," he said.

Riordan said there was limited access to electricity supply at the site and a substation would be needed.

"There is a route to getting this electrical infrastructure, but that is not secured," he said.

"It's an aspiration but it depends on other matters outside the control of the applicant."

White asked why the inspector should take into account plans which had not yet been approved.

The inquiry continues.

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