PLANS for a residential development at a mixed-use site in Stockton have been submitted to the town’s borough council for planning approval.

Durham-based Banks Property, part of The Banks Group, wants to make a further major investment in the area by creating a new family housing development in the central area of the Bowesfield Park site.

A total of 37 four and five-bedroom houses would be built on the 3.5 acre site, which is next to one of the landscaped water features that form a key part of the Bowesfield Park landscape, and would be an extension to an existing housing development.

Banks says the development, which is on the banks of the river Tees and includes a 15-hectare wildlife conservation area, has proved to be extremely popular with residential and commercial occupants alike since the first ones moved in five years ago.

Current commercial occupiers include BHP Law, Archers Law, Handelsbanken, Audi, Lexus, and Toyota, and there are also around 230 homes already built on the 67-acre site.

Preliminary discussions with housebuilders about the new site are already taking place, and Banks is hoping to get a determination on its planning application by the end of the year.

Philip Baker, planning director of Banks Property, says: “At a time when very few companies are investing in residential property development in the North East at all, Banks is taking the lead and showing just how much confidence we have in the unique appeal of Bowesfield Park.

“The nature reserve has matured into a facility that is highly valued by both those who live and work on the Bowesfield site, and others in the surrounding communities. The new development we’re now proposing is a natural extension of what’s already on the site, and we’re very hopeful that we will be able to move these plans forward in the near future.”