RESIDENTS of a former mining community could hold the key to a land ownership mystery which goes back more than 50 years.

Dene Valley Parish Council wants to use money made available by developers to build a children's playground in the expanding village of Auckland Park, near Bishop Auckland.

But with £45,000 in the kitty, it cannot establish who owns the land it has identified as the perfect site and is appealing to people to come forward with information.

The ideal spot, according to the council, would be part of the old Auckland Park Recreation Ground, which opened in 1935 with contributions from pitmen's pay packets.

Miners' Welfare committee records show a grant of £1,539 13s (shillings) paid on January 15, 1935 to buy and lay out the site, which eventually boasted two tennis courts and a pavilion and 12 children's swings and a swing seat.

The same fund provided a small institute and library at Auckland Park and the Auckland Park and Blackie Boy Colliery ambulance.

Four residents would have been appointed members of a trust which was recorded in a 1952 survey. No further records have been traced and Land Registry searches have drawn a blank.

Vernon Jones, chief executive of the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO) appealed for people who knew the area to dig deep into their memories.

He said: "There must be somebody there who can remember it as the recreation ground and we hope they will come forward.

"It concerns us because we support the parish council's view that the land should still be used for the original function for which it was provided."

The parish council has asked for an urgent meeting with CISWO. Chairman Chris Foote Wood said: "There has been a lot of new development in Auckland Park and we want to provide somewhere for the children and families who live there.

"The money is available. It is just a question of getting the land."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Councillor Foote Wood on (01388) 605181.