THE PEOPLE of Prudhoe have blasted plans for 300 homes on green belt land, describing the idea as ‘utter insanity’.

The final draft of Northumberland County Council’s core strategy plan proposes to remove land next to Highfield Lane from the town’s green belt.

The land is earmarked for housing development within the core strategy plan period.

And figures from the 2015 draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment state that the land could accommodate 300 homes.

On Monday it was standing room only at a Prudhoe Civic and Community Forum meeting to consider the core strategy plan.

Senior planner Johnathan Nicholson was the lone representative of Northumberland County Council.

Mr Nicholson gave a presentation on the plan and explained that in earlier drafts the core strategy had earmarked land west of Bewick Grange but constraints relating to land stability and proximity to Mickley meant the plan was changed.

Residents were told to submit any comments by midnight on Wednesday November 25, just two days after the meeting.

Leaflets advertising a presentation of the plan on November 7 were said to have been posted through every door in the town.

But many of those attending the meeting complained of a lack of public consultation.

One resident of Highfield said that some of the schools near to the plot of land had been unaware of the plan until very recently.

She added: “It’s an underhand way to push it through.

“The people of Prudhoe knew nothing about it.

“You can’t comment if you don’t know about it; you haven’t consulted us.”

Many people commented that the plan had not taken local infrastructure into account, with traffic problems on the notoriously congested Highfield Lane raised as a particular issue.

Access to the housing land would be via Highfield Lane, with the ‘C’ road straightened, widened and a roundabout installed outside nearby Highfield Middle School.

Highfield resident Rachel Blackburn said: “I would like someone from Northumberland County Council to see Highfield Lane at a busy school time.

“You’ve got two schools up there. With regard to safety for children what are you going to do?”

Another Highfield resident added: “Police, a traffic warden and a lollipop lady were all put in place there because children were knocked over.

“And now you’re talking about a possible additional 500 cars.

“It’s utter insanity, there’s no other word for it.”

Another resident said: “Shouldn’t the council have assessed the infrastructure before they put out this plan?

“It’s all cock-eyed to me.”

Concerns about land instability, sustainable drainage and the loss of amenity land were voiced.

And the cost of improving the town’s infrastructure to cope with 300 new homes was also questioned.

Town councillor Jennifer McGee said: “It is a high risk mining area. Has that been looked into?

“That land is unstable and it would cost an absolute fortune to make it stable.

“Has the county taken into account the landscape value of that area?

“The people of Prudhoe treasure that land and to take it away would be terrible.

“I don’t think this plan is achievable and the county should have looked at this properly.

“It would have a negative, adverse impact which would outweigh any benefits this development would give to the town of Prudhoe.”

Mr Nicholson told the meeting that, ideally, no areas of green belt would be deleted but that it was a case of looking for the ‘least worst’ situation.

He conceded that improvements would need to be made to the infrastructure and explained that developers would have to convince the county council that they could pay necessary infrastructure costs before moving forward.

He said: “We have to take a bit of a leap of faith; we have a certain amount of evidence but we haven’t gone around these sites drilling bore holes and measuring junctions.

“It might hit a brick wall but we have to go on the evidence we have to come forward with this proposal.”