Your Parish Councillors met with Mr David Budd (Middlesbrough Mayor) and Mr Tony Parkinson (CEO of Middlesbrough Council) in January to discuss issues of importance to Nunthorpe residents. Although we have met Mayor Budd on a number of occasions, this is the first time that Mr Parkinson has joined with us.
We expressed our concerns about the apparent lack of transparency given to the Parish Council and to the residents in general regarding developments impacting Nunthorpe. We said that the consultation process was weak, often untimely and incomplete.
The Mayor conceded this point and promised better consultation in the future.
We went on to say that we could not understand the reasoning behind housing expansion at the level pursued by Middlesbrough Council when the Government’s own calculation for the number of new homes needed in this area over the next 25 years is several times lower. We also expressed serious concerns (not for the first or we suspect the last time) about the overstretched road infrastructure of South Middlesbrough.
In regard to the plans for Nunthorpe Grange (the area of land south of Guisborough Road and the by-pass), we understand now that this is to be marketed on the basis of 250 dwellings (based on the current 2014 Local Plan) and the Council will retain authority to approve the developer(s). We note however that in the new draft 2018 plan (yet to be approved by independent inspectors), this number is targeting 350. The Parish Council told Mr Parkinson that it felt that it really had little input into the Design Code for Nunthorpe Grange which was disappointing.
Mr Parkinson said that he would take these issues on board and attempt to foster a better relationship with Nunthorpe. Only time will tell.