PLANS to build thousands of new homes in County Durham have drawn strong criticism.

Residents and developers expressed their views at a meeting to discuss housing within the Durham County Council’s County Durham Plan today (Friday, October 10).

The plans include 600 homes at both Woodhouses Farm, Bishop Auckland and High West Road, Crook, as well as 950 houses at Low Copelaw, Newton Aycliffe and 390 at the North East Industrial Estate, in Peterlee.

A further 400 executive houses have been proposed at the Lambton Park Estate, in Chester-le-Street.

As part of a six-week examination in public, planning inspector Harold Stephens heard that four of the 12 proposed sites are needed to meet the plan’s overall housing requirements which have already been earmarked for 31,400 new homes by 2030.

Bishop Auckland resident, Paul Fort, and Crook resident, Robbie Rodiss, both objected to the plans for their areas.

Mr Fort said a site near Greenfields Industrial Estate would be more appropriate as he had concerns about increased traffic.

Mr Rodiss said he thought there was no clear plan for Crook and described it as a "sacrificial cow".

He also pointed out that there are 500 houses standing empty in the Wear Valley area and questioned the need to build another 600 on top of that.

Richard Cowen, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, expressed concerns about plans for a wind farm to be built less than 1km away from the proposed site in Newton Aycliffe.

However, the council’s senior policy officer, Thomas Bennett, said the wind farm would be unlikely to get planning permission if the houses did.

Principle policy officer, Carole Dillon, received objections on all sides as she outlined plans for the executive homes which would be built on greenbelt land.

She said the site would bring economic benefits and would attract high earners to the county who might otherwise move elsewhere.

However, Andrew Moss, representing Castle Estates (Brancepeth), accused the council of ignoring evidence from a public consultation.

This showed 64 per cent of people wanted to see executive homes dispersed throughout the county, with only seven per cent wanting them confined to one or two locations.

David Miller, of Friends of the Durham Green Belt, said the council should make social housing its priority.

“I was dumfounded to see Durham County Council promoting the use of greenbelt to meet a need for executive housing,” he said. “Durham Council’s own rhetoric does not recognise its own exclusiveness – it’s a discriminatory policy.”

Area planning team leader, Gavin Scott, said the whole county would benefit from the executive homes which would justify locating it on the greenbelt.

The inquiry continues at Durham County Cricket Club on Tuesday (October 14).