Responsible Regeneration in North Tyneside is Good News for the Environment
Improving the local landscape and creating a sustainable environment is top of the agenda in plans to develop a disused brownfield site in North Tyneside.
Subject to approval from North Tyneside Council’s (NTC) Planning Committee, urban regeneration specialist Muse Developments, and Taylor Wimpey North East, are proposing a high quality residential environment in Longbenton, comprising 75 two, three, four and five bedroom family homes.
The plans include extensive landscaping to the former Billy Pit Colliery site, amongst which would be the creation of a new access road linking Whitley Road to the north-west corner of the site; running along the western boundary of the adjacent Blue Flames Sporting Club.
The former Billy Pit colliery dates back to the early 19th century. Whilst the pit has been closed for some time, a capped mineshaft remains on the site and the land suffers from historic contamination due to this former coal mining use.
Developers propose that a residential development on the site will ensure the land is remediated and will also create significant wildlife corridors and green spaces, which would return the site back to positive use; the complete redevelopment of the landscape will upgrade the brownfield site to an ecologically sound environment.
Consultations with NTC and the local community since the plan’s submission, have ensured that the application is being recommended for approval at the Committee meeting which will take place next week.
Neil Beamsley is a Senior Ecologist at E3 Ecology in Northumberland - consultants to the developer who have advised on the effect the development would have on the environment, both on the site itself and in the surrounding area.
He explained, “The proposed development looks to utilise an area of land with limited ecological and landscape interest, and will ultimately provide enhancements to the biodiversity of the area, as well as to the character of the landscape.”
The ecological survey of the site took into account the number of trees on the land earmarked for development, as well as any protected species that may inhabit the area subjected to any landscaping and construction.
Neil continued “The development of the former Billy Pit colliery site, and associated new access road through the Blue Flames Sporting Club will result in the loss of a small number of trees. Our survey work has shown that these are not currently used by breeding bird or roosting bats, and are generally common species, which are of limited ecological value. The mitigation scheme has been developed to replace the lost trees at a rate of 3:1, using mature examples of locally native and locally grown trees species. This will help provide more robust green corridors across the sites, and ultimately a better range of ecological resource for species such as birds and bats to use.”
E3 have, in consultation with the local authority, completed a range of ecological survey work in support of the development, including survey for great crested newts and bats
The focus on improving the ecology and environment of the site was a priority for developer Muse. Senior Development Surveyor, Simon Dew explained why the plans for the new homes and access road are an ideal solution for the brownfield site. He said, “When we first began to develop a plan for Billy Pit, we took into consideration how a development here would impact the local area and its residents, taking into account various factors such as new employment opportunities and the need for new homes, as well as any social and community benefits.”
“We quickly realised that the environmental impact was of huge importance, and that this site has enormous potential to become a sustainable and ecologically friendly environment on which to develop new homes.”
“Effective and responsible landscaping can transform this site from a contaminated former colliery to a site where people will want to live and we hope we have effectively demonstrated the inherent potential in the land to NTC and the local community; especially as so many developers choose to build on green field land rather than finding effective solutions in alternative sites like this.”
Plans to utilise brownfield land in the North East has become a priority with local authorities and Newcastle City Council has recently announced plans to release land to kick-start the creation of thousands of homes on brownfield land throughout the city in a bid to kick-start the North East economy.
While these plans, designed to create hundreds of construction jobs would provide a major boost to the regional economy, some campaigners have dismissed it as a “publicity stunt” and believe developers will overlook brownfield sites for prime locations - something which Muse are keen to demonstrate is not the case, as they hope to receive permission to start building the access road to the former Billy Pit site in NTC’s Planning Committee meeting later this month.
The proposals to build new homes and redevelop the landscape of the Billy Pit site in Longbenton have been developed in conjunction with planning consultants Turley Associates and highways and engineering consultants Mott Macdonald, resulting in plans which propose multiple economic, social and environmental benefits to the area if developed for housing.
NTC’s Planning Committee will meet to decide on the future of the proposed development on Wednesday 30th July 2013. The Committee Report has been produced and the application is being recommended for approval. For more information on the development please visit www.billypit.co.uk or follow @B1llyPit on Twitter. Full documentation of the application can be found online via North Tyneside Council’s planning portal using this link: http://t.co/cxLE629psh.
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