ONE of the biggest housing developments a Teesdale village has seen for decades has been lodged with planners.
Outline planning permission has been sought for 16 homes in Winston on a field to the west of the Bridgewater Arms.
The applicants want to make use of a “disused overgrown field” near the grade II-listed pub on land off the A67.
A planning statement on behalf of the developers said the housing would be sustainable and appropriate given its position close to “existing built up areas” .
It added: “The site is also accessible to public transport networks in that there are bus stops south of the site within Winston for journeys in both directions.
“The existing buildings in the vicinity of the site are generally traditional in their design.
“While these matters would not be agreed at this stage, the proposals are likely to follow a similar pattern of development in the form of traditional dwellings.”
The two acre site would likely bring a “maximum” of 16 homes if outline permission is granted with access from near the pub car park.
Drawings indicate initial proposals for eight four-bedroom detached homes, two four-bedroom semi-detached houses and six six-bedroom semi-detached dwellings.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
