Latest news with #GrahameMorris
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
County Durham solar farm proposal turned down after objections
Plans for a large-scale solar farm in the countryside have been refused over concerns about noise and the impact on the landscape. Hare Hill Solar's proposal for the site in Haswell Plough was voted down by Durham County Council's planning committee after a developer hoped to operate the 154-acre (62.7 hectare) site at Harehill Farm alongside a battery storage system, but faced opposition from County Council's planning department had originally backed the development to provide clean energy to 17,600 homes, but the committee voted to knock back the plans. Resident Janice Ferguson said her family would become "prisoners in our own home" if the solar farm went ahead."In every direction we will be surrounded by wire fencing, security lighting and CCTV cameras," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service."We will have to endure at least a year of dust and drilling while 90,000 panels are piledriven into the ground all around us." Residents' concerns Ms Ferguson was joined by 24 other objectors, including local MP Grahame Morris who opposed the proposal due to noise issues and the impact on the said: "The thought of residents being surrounded by rows of solar panels is understandably distressing."Kenneth Morton, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said the application had been altered following local feedback and told a council meeting: "This scheme has planning officers' recommendation for approval, it seeks to minimise local impacts, enables the survival of two local businesses, supports jobs and supports biodiversity."Also supporting the plan, Councillor Mark Wilkes said there would be "no impact on farmland, which in any shape or form can be considered to be negative".However, a majority of committee members sided with the campaigners' Alan Bell said: "It's immense, it's enormous."The landscape harm is not going to be overcome." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
10-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
East Durham College housing plans expected to be refused
Plans by a college to build 54 homes on a disused playing field are expected to be Durham College wants to build the homes on an old running track at Willerby Drive in Peterlee, but a planning officer from Durham County Council has recommended the projected be refused Spurgeon pointed out a number of problems with the scheme and said it would result in a loss of playing fields in the Easington MP Grahame Morris has supported the application because it would bring the land back into use. He said the plans would "repurpose a neglected area and generate revenues to enable the college to continue to deliver high-quality academic and sports provision, as well as much-needed housing". 'Poor design' The site was last used as a playing field in 2019, according to the Local Democracy Reporting its planning statement the college said the field was overgrown and it had no "surplus funds or intention" to reuse it as a playing his recommendation to the council, Mr Spurgeon said the proposed development would lead to the loss of about two hectares (7.4 acres) of playing fields and the application did not show a surplus of such facilities in the England objected to the plans for the same Spurgeon said the development was of a "poor design" when assessed against the council's County Durham Plan Building for Life Supplementary Planning said it "would not be possible for an appropriate layout for something numerically close to 54 dwellings" to be built while adhering to the plans would also require prominent trees to be cut down and the development would cause significant harm to biodiversity in the area, Mr Spurgeon said.
