Changes to a major housing development in Ellington, to better meet market demand, have been given the green light by councillors.
Two applications, one relating to each of the first two phases of the redevelopment of the former colliery site, were unanimously approved by Northumberland County Council's strategic planning committee on Tuesday.
Among amendments to house types, perhaps the most noteworthy change is that the second phase will now provide an extra 28 affordable homes to be offered to a registered social landlord.
This is in addition to the affordable housing required under the section 106 legal agreement tied to the original outline permission for the site, which was granted in September 2015 for up to 400 homes on the site south of Lynemouth Road.
The variation will also result in the loss of apartments and bungalows from the scheme, while the overall number of units in phases one and two will be reduced by seven.
Neither bid had attracted any objections, but had to be decided by councillors as they are by Ascent Homes, the house-building arm of the local authority's wholly-owned company Advance Northumberland (formerly Arch).
Given this lack of concerns, they were waved through with no discussion by the committee.
The first phase of what is known as Wayside Point, originally for 99 properties, is currently under construction and being sold following detailed approval in December 2016.
The changes to this phase will remove 25 units, including all the apartments and bungalows, and replace them with 17 houses, resulting in a reduction in the overall number of dwellings to 91.
The new mix would be 16 two-bedroom, terraced/semi homes, 31 three-bedroom townhouses and the remainder all detached properties - 18 three-bedroom, three three/four-bedroom and 23 four-bedroom.
The details of the 96 properties in phase two were given the go-ahead in December last year and the amendments will see an increase to 97.
The variations proposed for this section will remove a six-unit apartment block, resulting in a new mix of nine two-bedroom bungalows, 43 two bedroom, terraced/semi homes, 27 three-bedroom, detached properties and 18 four-bedroom detached houses.
