A GROUP has been formed to fight the latest in a rash of planning applications to tear down Edwardian houses and replace them with flats.

Stockton South MP Dari Talor, who shares residents' concerns about the threat to the character of Eaglescliffe, has accepted an invitation to speak at a public meeting called by the Eaglescliffe Preservation Action Group (EPAG) next week.

The MP has been meeting for months with Egglescliffe Parish Council, which has been campaigning for five years to have a loophole plugged in a Government policy guidance that urges builders to build on brownfield - previously developed - sites.

Parish council clerk Helen Rennison said: "Family homes in their own gardens are perceived as previously developed sites, giving the developers the chance to demolish those houses and rebuild with flats.

"We don't object to new buildings.

"We don't want quality family homes in their own gardens seen as previously developed. That is a loophole we want stopping up.''

Mrs Taylor previously told The Northern Echo: "This part of my constituency has beautiful Victorian and Edwardian architecture and there is a grave concern that policy planning guidelines are being used to replace this with high-density flats.

"It is crucial to get things right to protect the character of Egglescliffe and Eaglescliffe."

EPAG spokeswoman Vicki Thompson said concern for the survival of flora and fauna around Eaglescliffe, including the presence of protected bats, had led to biologist Dr David Bellamy being invited to the public meeting at All Saints' Church, Eaglescliffe, on June 17.

She said: "There is talk today of a shared vision. We want to share our views on what is proposed for our area.

"One NorthEast wants to raise the profile of the region. We want to raise the profile of this area, where Eaglescliffe and Yarm are jewels in the crown.

"We have to stop what is going on and protect what we have got."

EPAG is the latest residents' group to be launched to fight redevelopment proposals.

Other pockets of opposition have been launched to fight individual apartment schemes in the neighbourhoods where they are planned.