COUNCILLORS refused planning permission for seven new homes on the site of a disused service station.

Sedgefield Borough Council's development control committee said the proposal for Banktop service station, in Trimdon Village, would not enhance the existing street scene and would create potential road hazards.

Council planning officers said they supported the location in principle as it was for brownfield land and, despite falling partly outside the village boundaries, it mirrors buildings on the opposite side of the road.

But they said the design lacked imagination and would create an inward-looking development with mainly gable ends seen from outside.

Concerns were also been raised by the borough and county councils about the potential dangers the development, and access from the B1278, would cause to road users and pedestrians.

Councillors asked officers to work with the applicant, D Parkinson Developments Ltd, to design a better plan for a mixture of detached and semi-detached houses around a newly-constructed cul-de-sac.