Plans to build 10 new homes on the former site of a 19th century Wallsend house were thrown out by the council after fears that it could cause "unreasonable restrictions" on a nearby fabrication yard.
Councillors voted to refuse plans Montagu Hotels Limited to build six two bedroom homes and four three bedroom town houses on the desolate patch of waste ground at a planning committee meeting on Tuesday.
The land used to be occupied by Point Pleasant House, at the heart of an estate that stretched from the riverside to Wallsend village green.
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Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company brought the house in 1879 before it was eventually taken over by Hadrian Yard. It was pulled down in 2009.
Since then, a report submitted to North Tyneside Council said, the land has become plagued by fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
The report said that the development would clean up the site and boost local housing stock.
It said: “Although now vacant, the site used to accommodate Point Pleasant House in its north west corner, adjacent to Meadow Road. The remainder
of the site was used at the property’s garden area, hard landscaping andnoutbuildings. Remnants of the property footprint, demolished in 2009, can be found within the site.
“Given the current state of the site, and the fact it now seemingly attracts anti-social behaviour (due to evidence of fly-tipping and graffiti), it is believed that refurbishment of the site for housing will improve the local vicinity, whilst also contributing to the reduction of the current two bedroom housing shortfall within the Wallsend area.”
However, some residents weren’t impressed with 22 objections submitted to the authority. They raised fears about traffic, over development and the safety of children. One said that the new homes could make an already “fraught” access situation worse.
They wrote: “Access via point pleasant terrace can be fraught at the best of times and adding another 10 dwellings and their associated traffic will only cause more problems.”
Another said: “The existing land on Ford Terrace is used as a play area for children and the access to the development could lead to dangerous incidents.”
Fears were also raised about flooding and the environment with someone writing: “Plans are an over development for this site and will result in problems with excessive traffic, shortage of parking spaces, access, safety, loss of wildlife and trees.
“Drains already flood here since building the Hadrian Mews estate, this little community lost so much for that estate and this amount of extra homes would totally ruin what we have left.”
The committee heeded advice by the authority's planning department which recommended the scheme be refused.
They warned that there was nothing in the application that would “prevent unreasonable restrictions” being imposed on nearby steel fabrication site Smulders Yard. Planners were also concerned about the environmental impact.
