A PRUDHOE town councillor has raised concerns about the potential for future development at a greenfield site in the town.

The land off Highfield Lane in Prudhoe has been outlined in Northumberland County Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) as a deliverable and developable site.

The SHLAA was released in February 2017 and identified sites with potential for housing.

Now Northumberland County Council has issued a “call for sites” – asking members of communities to come forward with any sites they think might be suitable for development – to help form the Local Plan Core Strategy, which the council said is scheduled for adoption in 2020.

Coun. Jennifer McGee raised concerns that the land at Highfield Lane was not suitable for the 500 homes which the SHLAA suggests it could deliver, and said if put forward in the Core Strategy it could cause major problems in the town.

“I am not against housing coming to Prudhoe,” she explained. “We have got over 400 houses going on the hospital site and also other areas in the town centre have permission. If this was somewhere else on a site which didn’t have problems it might work, but it would cause tremendous problems in the town.”

In the SHLAA, several sites are suggested off Highfield Lane which, combined, are identified as suitable to deliver the 500 homes.

They include land south of Highfield lane and land to the south west of Moor Road.

The main plot of land off Highfield Lane, opposite Highfield Park, is identified as green belt land.

Coun. McGee raised concerns about the fact the site was located in a Coal Authority development high risk area, and added that Northumbrian Water had previously said there was little capacity in the water system.

She added: “Highfield Lane is just a C class road which is already having problems with traffic.

“With 500 to 600 extra houses that could equate to about 1,000 to 1,200 extra cars. And it’s not just the three schools in the immediate area which would be affected.

“That road is used to get up to the high school.”

A spokeswoman for Northumberland County Council said the SHLAA was not a policy document, so did not determine whether a site should be allocated for housing in a future core ttrategy or granted planning permission if an application was submitted.

“Much more detailed work is required to be undertaken before a site is allocated for development in a local plan or receives favourable planning consideration through the application process,” she added.