New Development - Housing

Recent housing needs research shows that about 10,000 new homes will be needed over the next 20 years. A policy setting out the annual housing requirement and how its delivery will be phased is proposed.

Because much more new housing needs to be planned for than previously, all existing information about potential housing sites will be reviewed and further information collected, to enable us to identify those that are the most suitable, sustainable, available and deliverable. There will need to be a mix of sizes and types of sites capable of delivering new homes throughout the next 20 years. We will also need to allocate more land than is needed, to make sure the housing target is met even if some sites do not progress, or progress is slower than expected.

The starting point will be the 45+ sites already identified in the IPPS. These sites, which have already been the subject of public consultations, are within or on the edge of the main urban area of Darlington and are considered suitable for sustainable new housing developments in the next five years.

We will work with stakeholders and others to draw up the criteria that will be used to decide which additional sites to allocate for housing in the new Local Plan. We will also ask people to tell us about any sites they think could accommodate sustainable new housing development, with a ‘call for sites’.

We have done some initial thinking on where new housing could go to stimulate your thoughts. Taking into account some key constraints like flood risk, physical barriers, capacity of roads and schools, and the presence of valuable environmental and heritage assets, we have identified some strategic options. These also include areas where the scale of new housing would support the provision of new schools, roads, etc.

These initial options are illustrated on the following diagram.

Potential Locations for Strategic Development

Related FAQs

How soon will any development being planned actually happen?

The new Local Plan is for the period from now to 2036. Some of the development, particularly new housing, will need to happen in the next five years. Larger developments and bigger sites are likely to take much longer to get going, especially if new roads, drainage, etc. are needed to open up the land.

Your Say

5 comment(s)

Comment
New Development - Housing I should like to see most of housing development around the core of the town which would limit the amount of vehicles needed and stop a sprawling development. Ok do some development around the villages but do not make them loose their character. From my experience you have to have a car if you live out side the town and therefore are more like to do shopping at the likes of Teesside park rather than have to pay at town centre carparks.
New Development - Housing I think it is a disgrace that any more houses are being considered around Middleton-St-George when the infrastructure cannot cope as it is, the idea of having extra traffic entering the centre of the village is is idiotic, the drains along Station Road cannot handle heavy rain, you name it, everything is against extra housing, its a great pity that it is being handled by the people who are supposed to support us, don`t.
New Development - Housing A large extension of housing on the north side of Darlington would only worsen the difficulties which already exist in keeping traffic flowing along the A167. Widening the road does not look like an option. I would prefer to see the extension of existing villages especially with affordable small homes, which might make services more viable in the rural communities. The well paid dont need the services - they can afford things themselves - leaving the young, old and vulnerable - and many on low wages - without reasonable services and isolated.
New Development - Housing The article in the July issue of 1 Darlington with reference to the Councils vision for Darlington's future in paragraph 2 it states that in future Darlington will be "surrounded by attractive countryside and villages", however, recent planning approvals give permission for green belt land to be used for housing, extending existing villages far beyond what the infrastructure is capable of supporting. This is a complete contradiction with your future proposals and current actions and should be addressed as a priority. I would like to see a moratorium on the approval of green belt planning applications for development being granted until all brown field sites have been developed. This will not be popular with the developers but there will still be sufficient profit for them to proceed.
New Development - Housing Please,please take the increased volume of traffic into account when building on these plots of land.Traffic is at a standstill at certain times on many of the main roads.Also,are the sewage drains going to be larger? This worries me and could be a future public health issue if it is not resolved and existing drains have to cope with an increased volume of waste