Plans in for 450 Skerningham Garden Village homes
Potentially the first part of the 4,500-home masterplan north-east of Darlington to be delivered, the application also covers retail, a pub and infrastructure.
Skerningham Estates, based in Stockton-on-Tees, has lodged a hybrid application, seeking full consent for 450 homes, and outline permission for a retail store and pub with associated parking, landscaping and infrastructure.
The professional team is led by planner Lichfields, architect Pod and Tyler Grange.
Skerningham Garden Village is broadly broken down into two parts, west and east of the East Coast Mainline. A design code was adopted by Darlington Council last September, setting a planning context, with a joint consultation following soon after, carried out by Lichfields for Skerningham Estates and Banks Group, which is the lead developer for the western portion.
Skerningham Estates has only one listed director, Christopher Harrison, who is also a director of Theakston Homes.
Skerningham Garden Village as a whole
The wider site is 1,200 acres. It will adjoin the existing communities of Beaumont Hill, Whinfield and Great Burdon, while Barmpton village is also close to the north-eastern edge of the allocation site.
The allocation is bordered by the Skerne River and Barmpton Village to the north, the A167 to the west, Darlington’s existing urban edge and the A66 to the south and agricultural land to the east. The allocation is bisected by the East Coast Mainline which runs in a north-south direction through the site.
Banks has lodged outline plans for 600 homes in the Beaumont Hill area, west of the railway line, which are yet to be determined. Although objections have been logged, the plans pre-date the joint masterplan put forward last year, so seem likely to be tweaked. The masterplan is in the final stages of council sign-off.
The first Skerningham Estates application
Thie application validated this month covers the phase one areas that sit east of the railway, specifically the character areas Barmpton Lane, Skerningham Lanes (East and West), Skerningham Woods, and Manor House Woods.
Included are 90 affordable homes representing 20% of the total, in line with policy guidelines for the area.
The site is divided into northern and southern parcels, with convenience retail and the pub lined up for the southern part.
The plans also include improvements, including accessibility and landscaping, to the Manor House View, Skernnigham Woods and Skerningham Lane West areas. Contributions will be made to transport infrastructure improvements in the area.
The southern parcel of the application has a shop and pub in the centre. Credit: planning documents
Broadly, the areas within the phase are Barmpton West, to the left in the picture above, Village Green, taking up the centre and including the shop and pub, and Barmpton East, to the right.
Darlington Council officers will now consider the proposals, which can be viewed on the council’s planning portal with the reference 24/00772/FULE.
The borough is also home to another garden village project, that proposed by Hellens and Homes England at Burtree. Plans for an initial phase of 750 homes were approved in May. The scheme secured official Garden Communities status in 2019.
The Skerningham Village site borders green space. Credit: planning documents
