Plans have been given the go-ahead for nine new units at a business park

Earlier this year, a planning application was lodged with Durham County Council for a parcel of land off Birchwood Drive, at Bracken Hill Business Park.

This included nine industrial units for prospective businesses and associated soft and hard landscaping.

The plans came from FI Real Estate Management and aimed to redevelop the land which was formerly occupied by an office building known as Gemini House.

Since its demolition, the site has remained vacant with new plans including self-contained commercial units with footprints of between 500 and 685 square metres.

A design and access statement stressed the site would offer car and cycle parking, with the nine units distributed between two short terraces and a single unit.

Following consultation, the scheme was approved by council planners on April 15,2021.

In a report, council officials said the scheme met all relevant council policies and would have economic benefits.

The decision report reads: “The proposed development is considered acceptable in principle and would introduce a range of employment uses into an area protected for that purpose by policy two of the County Durham Plan.

“In addition, the development would deliver considerable wider economic benefits through the reintroduction of a positive use to a large previously developed site and could be satisfactorily accommodated by reason of size, scale, use and materials without unacceptable adverse impact upon the amenity of surrounding occupiers, visual amenity, highway safety, ecology or land stability.”

Council planners added the development would likely create a “notable” number of jobs and could spark the regeneration of a nearby site.

The report goes on to say: “At present end users have not been identified and as such the applicant has been unable to provide any indication of the total number of jobs created although it is likely that this would be notable given the number of units proposed, and if successful lead to the similar redevelopment of the adjacent site which, as already noted, remains in a state of disrepair and is also within the applicant’s control.”

Under planning conditions, the industrial units must be brought forward within the next three years.

For more information on the application, visit Durham County Council’s planning portal and search reference: DM/21/00028/FPA

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