Two years ago, when Great Aycliffe Residents’ Association considered the first draft of the proposed County Plan, a meeting of 250+ residents unanimously resolved that the Plan – which effective sidelined Aycliffe – was not ambitious enough.  So the planners went away and produced a revised Plan which instead puts Aycliffe at the centre of the County’s aspirations for growth.
In the current Plan, therefore, a third of the ‘employment land’ proposed for the County (including 90% of the proposed ‘prestige’ land) is allocated to Aycliffe Business Park … which will make it the largest industrial estate by area in the north east.  To accommodate the increased population such growth may stimulate, the Plan then allocates land for almost 2,000 extra houses (should they be needed).
County Durham is not a Soviet-style Command-Economy!  The Plan cannot direct what will happen.  Rather – should we have the entrepreneurial dynamism to grasp it – it provides Aycliffe with the opportunity for growth.  But the alternative is that our potential for expansion is artificially constrained.  It would be, in effect, an invitation for growth to go elsewhere.
What we asked for
Could we build the new houses ‘within the town boundaries’, asks a correspondent last week.  But the GARA meeting decided unanimously on that too – No!  Aycliffe people told the planners that they wanted to retain the internal green spaces which characterise our ‘garden city’, and that they did not want back-filling. The County Plan gives Aycliffe people what they asked for.
Support it, or maybe lose it
What we tell the planners now cannot change the text of the Plan, which has to go as it is to the government for consideration.  Any reservations, alterations and suggestions made at this point will go down to the government alongside the Plan … as, essentially, objections.  If the number of those objections grows large enough, the Plan may be delayed, even rejected.
That would be a disaster for Aycliffe – not just because a revised Plan might not place Aycliffe at its heart, but because Aycliffe Business Park needs the confidence and assurance of the Plan now, to maximise its appeal to industry and capitalise upon the ‘Hitachi bubble’.
The proposed County Plan is not ‘written in stone’.  It includes flexibility and there will be plenty of time in the next three decades to sort out any quibbles.  But, at this moment, Aycliffe needs its residents to give the Plan a ringing general endorsement.
Consultation ends 9 December
You do not need to complete the online consultation (at http://bit.ly/DCCPlan). Simply (before 9 December) email CDPconsultation@durham.gov.uk – Please say you support the Plan’s core vision for Aycliffe’s business growth and housing. It will take only seconds, but by doing so we will secure the opportunity of a bright future for our town.
John D Clare