A FAMILY-RUN motor company wants to expand its business by creating a car recycling plant on one of the region's largest industrial estates.

But borough councillors are urging the county council to scrap the proposals. They say it will be an eyesore.

G H Palin and Sons wants to build a car recycling centre at the back of its existing workshop in Carlbury Road, Aycliffe Industrial Estate, Newton Aycliffe.

But Sedgefield Borough Council has objected to the application believing the breaker's yard would detract from the appearance of the estate.

Charlie Walton, head of the borough council's planning services, said: "In effect this would be a scrapyard next to the best industrial site we have in the borough. We don't want to see this next to Aycliffe Industrial Park."

The proposed site is next to the £3.5m Heart of the Park office and business development, which could attract up to 40 companies and create hundreds of new jobs.

Borough councillors said the scrapyard, where vehicles would be de-polluted by removing oil, fuel and batteries, would harm the marketing and development of an important employment centre.

They also said the location is unsuitable because it is not in a local plan, which designates just three sites in the Sedgefield borough - Chilton Industrial Estate, Furnace Industrial Estate, Shildon and Dean and Chapter Industrial Estate, Ferryhill - as suitable for material reclamation or scrapyards.

A spokesman for GH Palin and Sons said: "I think our facility could actually improve the appearance of Aycliffe. At the minute we see unwanted cars dumped around the town because people don't know where to take them.

"I don't see it becoming a massive unsightly place, I imagine there to be no more than 150 cars here for a short period before being taken away on HGVs.

"It would all be at the rear of the site, which we have had for seven or eight years. There won't be a big difference.

"We've had to lay people off in the past, it would be nice to start taking people on instead if this facility got up and running."

Durham County Council is due to discuss the application on Wednesday, April 20.