'Link road with Morpeth Northern Bypass is a must before new housing' say objectors

Stonebridge Homes has submitted an application to build 48 homes on land north of the St George’s Park hospital, which is currently vacant grassland.

The county council will discuss the proposal in due course but in the meantime, it has asked the public for its views and people are worried local roads will not be able to cope with so many extra residents.

The Morpeth Northern Bypass, built to ease congestion in the town, was completed in 2017. And a link road to connect it and hundreds of new homes which have already been approved in the north of the town was included in the county council’s plans for the area and the Morpeth Neighbourhood Plan.

However, despite numerous calls for this road to be completed as soon as possible, progress has been slow and permission to use all the land it needs so it can fully link through has only been in place since September.

The design and access statement by Stonebridge says that to access the site, vehicles would need to use the current road that runs between the hospital and the A197 at Dark Lane, already a busy road in Morpeth.

But this is “unacceptable” according to local resident Alan Hardiman, who also says in his objection: “The development should not be allowed to start until such time as the link road to the (Morpeth Northern) bypass is completed and operational.”

Fellow objector Kath Crabbe states: “There are already far too many vehicles having to use the access road to St George’s.

“No more homes should be allowed unless the access is constructed, particularly as this proposed site is to the north of the hospital.”

An outline bid for 50 homes was submitted for the site in 2017, but this fresh proposal is seeking full planning permission.

This means an updated transport note has been provided on behalf of the applicant and using traffic data from WebTRIS, the average peak hourly flows on the northbound A1/A197 slip road into Morpeth, described as the ‘nearest continuous traffic monitoring site to the development’, was 968 vehicles in 2017 and only 588 vehicles in 2022.

But objectors have questioned the value of using that location and Morpeth Town Council said in its response: “We are surprised by this assertion as it is our experience that the town gets ever busier.”