PLANS to convert the former police station at Bellingham into a veterinary surgery have been put on hold.

A requirement by planners for a detailed ecological survey to identify any threats to wildlife and plant life means the ambitious scheme has been temporarily withdrawn from the planning schedule.

But vet Tim Pearson, of applicants Orchard House Veterinary Services, said this week he was confident the surgery would be taking its first patients by the spring of next year – despite the fact objections have been lodged to the scheme.

He said: “We have to do a survey on animals, such as bats which may be roosting in the area.

“It‘s a bit ironic, given that looking after animals is what we do, but we are happy to go along with it, even though it will delay the project for around three months.”

Orchard House which already operates veterinary clinics in Hexham and Stocksfield, wants to develop the abandoned police station as a veterinary surgery for small animals, with a consulting room, operating theatre and pharmacy and car park.

The application also involves the conversion of the former court room, last used as a home for Bellingham youth club, into a three-bedroomed house.

In its application, the vets said: “The proposals provide an excellent opportunity for an appropriate re-use of a redundant building in the village.

“The proposed veterinary surgery will provide a valuable service to the village, and the necessary re-modelling of the building provides an opportunity to remove poorly constructed over-build at the rear of the property and replace it with new, high quality construction and a small extension.

“The introduction of a residential property will be a valuable addition to the village.”

However, Jonty and Val Hutchinson, of Fell View, Bellingham, have lodged a formal objection to the scheme, on the grounds that they were in the process of developing a static caravan site in the same area, having gained planning permission last year.

They also felt that an existing car parking problem in the area would be exacerbated to an unacceptable level if consent was granted, given the presence of the busy Bellingham Garage, Nixon’s plumbing and heating engineers, and their own interests in a confined area,

In their letter to county planners, they said: “Our caravans will be occupied for a large part of the time and a car park within feet of them would be totally unacceptable.

“A petrol tanker delivers fuel to the garage twice a week blocking the road off for approx 30-45 mins at a time.

“To access the staff car park vehicles will have to drive over our land which is often cluttered with lorries and other vehicles.

“Any increase in traffic would make it difficult for refuse vehicles etc to get to the caravan site.”

The Hutchinsons also noted that for their caravan application they had been instructed that no development could be within five metres of the adjacent river bank and, if the same criteria applied to the veterinary clinic, if would seriously reduce the area available for car parking

They added: “Whilst the veterinary surgery would be an asset to the village, the proposed house would be totally inappropriate for this location.”

A representative of Nixon’s added the site was always busy with staff and customer visits, as well as frequent deliveries, often by large articulated lorries

The statement continued: ”Our premises are dedicated to some extreme and very noisy operations, at a distance of less than 10 metres from the proposed house.”

While the application was formally withdrawn this week, it will be resubmitted later in the year when the survey has been completed.