Consultation event draws big numbers
Large numbers of people turned up to a community consultation by Taylor Wimpey ahead of a possible 300 home development on the border of Warkworth and Amble.
đź“· The consultation attracted a steady stream of people
The event gave locals the chance to speak to representatives of Taylor Wimpey, and to see some outline plans. The development may go to planning later in the year. Comments on the proposal are invited from the public; you can email: glosterhill@taylorwimpey-pr.co.uk
The proposed development had already attracted many comments, with 120 objections lodged on Northumberland County Council’s website. Concerns have been raised over access, environmental impact, loss of agricultural land, and sewage. Potential increases on already stretched community infrastructure has also been raised.
A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey said:Â “A public consultation event was held on 21 October to present our proposals for new homes at Gloster Hill, Amble. The event was well attended by local residents, and their feedback will help shape the next stages of the design. We expect to submit a planning application towards the end of the year.”
The Ambler understands that the development would be outside the settlement boundaries of both Amble and Warkworth and would be contrary to elements of Warkworth’s Neighbourhood Plan.
Some comments from the consultation event
Most of the comments The Ambler heard voiced concerns over the number of developments Amble has seen in recent years. People who spoke to us were worried about the potential impact on the environment and how the infrastructure would cope. Some people expressed anger over another large housing estate, while others felt the development was a forgone conclusion. No-one we spoke to at the consultation appeared to support the plans.
“We got the impression they’re just going through the motions. At least we got our thoughts off our chest. ”
“It’s as though they’ve found a spot and thought ‘that’ll do’. They’ve got no idea about the lay of the land; things like access and water and sewage, they are the main issues, and the infrastructure can’t cope.”
“The only positive is they’re leaving a few trees. But the council just ok everything. Nobody wants it, there are too many estates already.”
“It’s just unbelievably awful.”
đź“· Members of the public were able to see the proposals
“This land fed Amble, there used to be a dairy farm, they grew potatoes. The soil is beautiful and they’re just going to get rid of it. We need this land for food.”
“How many more houses are they going to build?”
“They don’t want to know about Amble’s infrastructure. It’s all about money. I know we’ve all got to move with the future but they’ve gone too far.”
Background housing numbers for Amble
In their 2022 Local Plan, Northumberland County Council’s baseline target for the number of houses for Amble was 540.
Since 2016 Amble has had 1530 homes built or planned, far exceeding this number. These targets will likely increase in line with the National Policy Planning Framework.
In 2025 the number of dwellings in Amble was around 3,569.
Anna Williams
Related article:
Although the proposal would function as a substantial extension of Amble, the land lies within Warkworth Parish rather than the designated Amble Neighbourhood Area. The assessment should therefore consider the development according to its functional environmental effects rather than administrative boundaries, including cumulative effects on Amble’s population, infrastructure and highways as well as effects upon Warkworth Parish, landscape and heritage. The land has an abundance of wildlife, and hedges are full of life too. Bats, sea birds, hares, foxes, partridge, owls, frogs, rabbits, deer can be seen on a regular basis, some of which every day.
This development is will basically be a bypass of Amble town for traffic to go into Mariners View and through the new site on the way to Togston. The residents of Gloster Hill and Mariners view will have to suffer constant traffic using this as a short cut to get out of going up Acklington Road. The new residents who bought houses backing onto Mariners View will have constant traffic going past their houses.
Wildlife will be destroyed and displaced just so a builder and a land owner can get richer.
Just hope most are second homes as there is only one doctors and one dentist.
Yet again the wildlife suffer. They will be the same old boring houses with no gardens just block paved front car parking areas.
One of the major concerns expressed in many of the objections is the already inadequate sewerage and drainage system which this proposed new development would even further over stretch. This is noted in point 6.9 of the decision report but apparently the possibility of raw sewage being spilled into the Coquet estuary is of insufficient importance to consider inconveniencing Taylor Wimpey by requiring an EIA. (it would be too onerous !)
Residents have photographs of the main drain overflowing and sewage flowing onto Gloster Hill.
The drainage is only one of the reasons why this development should not be allowed even to reach the planning stage.
We have plenty of photographic evidence of the flooding which occurs during on the north side of this land and which runs across the road in Cove Way. The construction of a further 300 houses with associated hard landscaping would considerably reduce the ability of the land to absorb and safely diffuse rainfall and would therefore increase run-off considerably.
In addition under the Northumberland County Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment this area of farmland is shown as discounted with no development to be considered before 2040.
This surely begs the question of why is this even being considered?
This is grade 3 farmland and, in addition, supports a wide variety of wildlife species. On the land in question we see deer, hares, bats, possible evidence of badgers. Many bird species: all the usual garden birds plus Tree Sparrow, Yellowhammers, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Barn Owl, Little Owl, Curlew, Lapwing and others. This is a valuable food source for these species and should not be lost. The builders seem to believe that planting some grass around the new houses will solve the habitat loss but anyone with any knowledge of the countryside and wildlife knows that this is simply not the case and I fear that Northumberland County Council will just “rubber stamp” the application through despite all the evidence and clear reasons why this should not happen
The “Public Consultation” with Taylor Wimpey was just a “box ticking” exercise on their part.