New College Durham

Introduction

Welcome to our public engagement page for the New College Durham All-Weather Playing Pitch.

New College Durham are excited to announce plans for a new all-weather playing field at their Framwellgate campus to provide better connections throughout the Site as well as relocated car parking.

The project team have been working hard to design the proposal to meet the varying needs of the College in order to provide the college with high-quality sporting provision which will also be available for community use.

Now is the time to let us know what you think about the design proposals ahead of theproposed planning application being submitted in Summer 2023.

Undertaking public engagement with the local community in advance of submitting a planning application is an important part of the process for the applicant and allows members of the public and the local community to engage with the vision for the site and to provide valuable feedback on the proposals.

Once the application has been submitted there will also be an opportunity to comment as part of the planning application process.

The Site

The site is located at the New College Durham main campus, approximately three kilometres northwest of Durham city centre. It is bounded to the west by the A167 and by housing in other directions. The site was redeveloped by New College Durham between 2003 and 2005, replacing the former campus buildings and consolidating accommodation from their former Neville’s Cross site. The proposals for the new all-weather pitch and car parking relate to the southern portion of the site, on land comprising the current car park and the grass pitch to the east.

The Proposal

The proposals seek to improve the provision of all weather outdoor sports for the college and for community use and to improve connectivity and wayfinding on the site.

The proposed all-weather playing pitch will be located to the south of the site on the existing southern car park, providing access from the existing landscaping around the sports building and adjacent boulevard. The car parking which will be lost as a result of the new all-weather pitch will be replaced by a new car parking area on the existing grass playing field to the east. Access to the site will remain as existing.

The proposed new all-weather pitch will be a full-sized football pitch and has been designed to meet Sport England and Football Association size requirements. It is proposed that the pitch will be available for use by the College between the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 and will also be available for community use between the hours of 17:00  and 22:00

The pitch will be floodlit to allow evening usage of the pitch however’ the lighting will feature high control optics and LED lamps to minimise maintenance, energy usage and lighting spill. Lighting will also be installed in the new car park area to ensure it is safely lit. The lighting on site will be switched off by 23:00.

The proposed plans can be viewed HERE.

Providing your Feedback

We would welcome any comments you have on the proposals and all comments will be anonymous. Your comments can be submitted using the feedback form below or by email to consultation@dppukltd.com Alternatively, you can post any comments to:

DPP, Haylofts, St Thomas Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LE.

Please make any comments by 23rd June.