Church Street/Old School Site – Coxhoe

In 2020 Coxhoe Parish Council consulted on a new GP Surgery off the Front Street in Coxhoe after being saddened to learn that Believe Housing withdrew their interest from the site and the proposed development of flats. No other Registered Social Landlords were interested in the proposed flats development; however another one was interested in building out the site with 15 bungalows, or 10 bungalows with a doctors’ surgery. Another was interested in building 10 bungalows and 8 terraced houses on the doctors’ site, but this did not fit with the results of the previous residents’ consultation carried out by Coxhoe Parish Council.

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Image 1 shows the site as was proposed with a new surgery in green and 10 bungalows, image 2 shows the site with 15 bungalows only.

There were a lot of discussions with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Doctors surgery about finding the additional funding needed to move the GPs surgery from the Lansdowne Road site to the Old School site opposite Coxhoe Village Hall. Those discussions continue with the CCG, largely around the residual value of the old site.

Coxhoe Parish Council asked the public if a land swap should be considered to enable the building of bungalows and to facilitate Churchyard improvement.

Results

70% of residents who responded were in favour of bungalows and 92% of residents wanted to see improvements to the Churchyard as a result of development. At the same time, we also consulted residents on their desire to increase and improve parking around the village which also received public support

Sadly, this development, including the proposed surgery, did not go ahead due to legal land options expiring during Covid19 and increased costs which made that proposal unviable to the developers promoting the scheme at the time. Coxhoe Parish Council continued to explore options to make improvements to the churchyard and options to improve parking opportunities to support shoppers and traders to keep our front street thriving and vibrant, and we have continued to consult you on these as the details of potential options became clear.

In 2024, Coxhoe Parish Council again consulted on the use of the land to increase parking in Coxhoe.   A potential opportunity arose to work in partnership with a local landowner to do a land swap with part of the land the Parish Council owns behind the former florist’s shop. It could have enabled the Parish Council to install 40 additional parking spaces on the land shown on the plan below, opposite Coxhoe Village Hall, and enable the other land owner to explore development of their adjoining land. There were potentially significant costs to this for the Parish Council to layout this land as a car park, which could have been met by long term borrowing, possibly over 20 years, but would have required future Council Tax rises to pay for it.

Results

55% of the 216 who responded to this survey voted against exploring options to increase parking within Coxhoe if it were to result in a cost to the tax payer. As a democratic authority, it was resolved to draw negotiations and plans to a close, therefore the exploration of a land swap ceased.

In February 2025 we were approached by a new prospective developer regarding this site and asked if we would consider working in partnership with them to do a land swap with part of the land the Parish Council owns behind the front Street shops. In return for swapping the land, the developer has proposed to fund and build 30 public car park spaces which will be owned and maintained by the Parish Council.  There would be no cost to the Parish Council, or council tax payers, to fund the car park construction.

The developer is applying for planning approval to Durham County Council to build 8 townhouses on their land behind the Ginger Dog, which has previously had planning permission for this, and is proposing to seek planning approval for another 8 semi-detached houses on part of the land currently owned by the Parish Council, all with private parking on site.  They have provided plans of the area of the land (see image below), which shows the proposed public car park spaces edged yellow and the proposed homes.

An additional benefit to the proposal could be the option to link a new drainage system for St Mary’s Churchyard, into the drainage works of the housing development, potentially resulting in a more substantial drainage option and allowing this and the pathway project for the Churchyard to go ahead later this year.

Before further discussions with the developers take place, the Parish Council seek residents’ views on the proposed land swap to provide improved parking in the village.   The proposed housing would be subject to planning approval to be considered by Durham County Council as usual.

The developer has offered to answer any queries you may have about these proposals, and will hold a public drop in on Friday 9th May 4pm to 6pm, at Coxhoe Village Hall.

A new consultation for this proposal is now open here, please reply  by NOON Wednesday 14th May 2025.