Multi-million pound plans to move Northumberland County Council headquarters quashed
Multi-million pound plans to uproot Northumberland County Council's headquarters from the Morpeth County Hall site to Ashington have been scrapped.
The development has been quashed along with plans to build a retail park and 200 houses on the current Morpeth County Hall site.
Its follows the Home Group pulling out as developer of the housing scheme in April, but there was uncertainty as to the status of the application.
A spokesperson from Northumberland County Council has said:
Building work has already begun on the site in Ashington where it was proposed the council's headquarters could move to.
It is not yet know what will come of the site, now the development will not go ahead.
In March 2017 the controversial plans for a retail park, 200 houses and a school on the County Hall site in Morpeth were called in by the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid.
In the same month, despite huge opposition, Northumberland County Council's planning committee voted to approve the applications.
The intervention from the Department for Communities and Local Government meant that the applications would have to go to a public inquiry.
Opposition groups including the South Morpeth Coalition residents' group and the Morpeth Chamber of Trade welcomed the news.
Speaking at the time, David Holden of the residents' group said: