Durham City Vision

New and refurbished residential accommodation is a critical component of the regeneration of the City centre. It adds a level of vitality to the City centre and increases the informal surveillance of the public realm imposing a necessary damper on the excesses of antisocial behaviour. It is also an increasingly popular residential location.

There is a general presumption against single use, residential development on sites in the City centre, because:

• there is a need to support the widest range of activities and uses in the City centre,
• land in the City centre is precious because ground floor land with street frontage is particularly scarce, and
• these non-residential activities cannot readily compete with residential development in terms of values and returns.

Durham City is currently exceeding its housing delivery targets with existing and committed sites. The City of Durham Council is therefore focussing on a medium to long term housing strategy.

On the majority of sites, ground floor areas and parts of the developed accommodation will be dedicated to other, commercial and non-commercial uses. All housing proposals should aim to provide a range of tenures and unit sizes to meet a wide range of housing needs.

MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT INCORPORATING RESIDENTIAL SPACE
There are a number of sites that may lend themselves to residential accommodation as part of a mixed use development to incorporate office space and other commercial space on upper floors, and commercial and community activities on lower floors. Such locations include:

Claypath
Redevelopment of sites on the northern frontage

Gilesgate
Development of sites that result from reconfiguration of the roundabout to create a traffic signal controlled cross roads

Old Elvet
Reuse of existing listed buildings on the north side, to be vacated by the University, to include the potential for other uses – offices, hotel and retail – within a mixed use scheme.

North Road
Redevelopment opportunities at the northern end of North Road could incorporate residential uses as part of a larger mixed use scheme.

County Hospital
This could incorporate retention and reuse of the original Victorian building with high quality development of apartments and town houses to replace the later additions, terraced across the site, as well as a hotel option.

Old Elvet Waterside/Swimming Baths
The frontage buildings to Old Elvet, which are to be vacated by the University, and will be the focus of innovative mixed use development which will inevitably include residential accommodation. To the rear of these properties lies land, including the existing swimming pool that is to be redeveloped, where new mixed use development incorporating higher density apartments and town houses is the preferred use, creating new streets and spaces and new connections to the riverside and to the old racecourse open space.

SINGLE USE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
There are no strategically significant sites where it is considered that the only future use should be residential development. Instead, mixed use development, including varying proportions of residential accommodation, are considered to be most appropriate in the City centre. The organic structure of Durham was overlaid by an engineering-led sinuous road network that required extensive clearances of older properties and left significant parcels of land in its wake that have been landscaped, but which have the potential to repair the urban fabric of the City centre and to restore its sense of continuity. As open green space, none of these areas have a positive function other than as isolated habitats and visual features. Most are not physically accessible and so have no function as public open space. Most remain in public ownership, either of the City of Durham Council or the County Council. The problem is that they are not extensive areas and each has access and topographical constraints. However, the buoyancy in the residential market in the City centre at present offers the prospect that these sites could be parcelled up and sold on for development as packages; the potential margins could foster design solutions that overcome access issues and site sensitivity.

These sites include:

• Sites around the Gilesgate/Leazes Road Roundabout
• Site south east of Leazes Road/New Elvet Junction
• Riverside site north west of Elvet Bridge/New Elvet
• Site north of Leazes Road behind Claypath Frontage
• Framwellgate Peth east frontage to rear of Millburngate House
• Small sites on east side of Sutton Street

EXISTING CITY CENTRE UPPER FLOORS
There is a wide variety of space on the upper floors of buildings in the heart of the retail area. A substantial proportion of this is unused or underused while other parts are believed to be in poor condition after years of neglect. As alternative accommodation comes on stream, businesses occupying such space can be relocated and the general presumption in the City centre should be that such accommodation should be refurbished for residential use provided that:

• It makes limited or no provision for car parking (which will be very difficult to provide nearby), and can be sold and managed as such
• It is not in conflict with any commercial activities housed in other parts of the building or in adjoining buildings which may be a source of nuisance to future residents; e.g. fast food and other food outlets, bars and nightclubs (particularly where music is played or where extended hours are commonplace), other activities having extended or 24 hour use where night-time disturbance of residents may be expected. Existing and future commercial use will take precedence and new residential uses will not be allowed.
• Where the change to residential use leads to the loss of employment space not replaced elsewhere in the City centre.
• The regulations in respect of residential occupation and in particular means of escape can be satisfied without visual intrusion into the street scene or significant alteration to the structure or appearance of historic buildings, listed or not.