Plan for 600-home scheme 'lacks infrastructure'

A councillor has said a housebuilder's aims to build a proposed 600-home scheme are "impossible" ahead of a public inquiry into the project.

In March, Stockton Council's planning committee rejected Taylor Wimpey's £133m proposal for land east of Holdenfields Farm on Green Lane, Yarm.

But the developers appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate and the body's public inquiry into the decision, which is expected to last a week, is set to begin on Tuesday.

Conservative councillor Andrew Sherris said there was a lack of electrical capacity for the development. Taylor Wimpey said technical issues such as this would be discussed at the inquiry.

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

Their concerns centred on congestion, including on Yarm High Street, heritage and the impact on schools and medical practices.

The plans drew almost 600 objections and a petition with more than 3,400 signatures, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Sherris said electrical capacity was a longstanding issue in the area.

He said the most recent outage last Sunday forced the closure of a farm shop which needed emergency generators to be brought in to safeguard stock.

"As locals, even prior to this application, we all know about the limitations in the area," he said.

"The evidence presented by Taylor Wimpey does not demonstrate that electrical capacity for 600 units is currently available or secured."

The lack of electricity meant that plans to have 120 of the 600 homes ready within two years were "impossible" and "not achievable", he said.

Taylor Wimpey said: "We will continue to engage constructively with Stockton Council and all stakeholders."

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