What's at stake? (From Durham Times)

What's at stake?

8:41am Friday 10th August 2012 in Leader

THE Banks Group’s plans for a 250-home development at Browney Lane, Meadowfield, can be looked at two ways.

The Banks’ perspective is that, at a time of the deepest economic uncertainty, and a prolonged recession in the construction industry, here is a company that is willing to speculate to accumulate, to invest in the local economy, to build the new homes that are sorely needed.

The alternative perspective, as expressed by some of the online comments left on our website this week, is that the Durham area has more than enough new homes, that we can’t afford to lose more farmland and green space, that the local road network is at saturation point and that Banks’s only motive is making money from building and selling executive-style homes when what is really needed is more social housing.

The reality, or truth lies somewhere between those two views, but it encapsulates the dilemma facing those who will debate the merits of the county council’s masterplan for Durham City and district.

The consultation process takes place in September and October with the council taking all views expressed on board and revising the plan next year.

To what extent that revision is a minor tweaking or a whole redrafting depends on us.

There’s a huge amount at stake for the residents of the city and the villages that surround it.