RESIDENTS have criticised a district council, saying it has failed to regulate a housing development near their homes.

People living in Fern Valley, Crook, have accused Wear Valley District Council of letting them down by allowing Broseley Homes build a house too close to their homes.

Ian Wilford and his wife Judith say that the developer has already laid the foundations to the home, which will be built to the rear of their property.

Mr Wilford said: "When this was passed, officers said that the houses would not be built any closer than 21 metres.

"This house is 19-and-a-half metres away from our home.

"One-and-a-half metres difference does not sound a lot, but when you are looking out onto it, it is.''

The Wilfords and their neighbours have also accused Broseley of ripping down a farmers' fence and taking away hedges and a ditch that the district council planning officers had recommended stay to protect existing wildlife.

Louis Pringle said: "They have had no regard for us at all.

"All the council seem to want is the revenue from the houses.

"We were led to believe that the fences for the new homes would stop at the barbed wire fence.

"Now we are being told that our fences, which we have bought and maintained ourselves, are now going to be used by Broseley for their new homes. It is wrong."

The residents also said noise and dust had also caused problems.

A spokesman for Broseley Homes said it had not done anything wrong according to planning regulations.

He said: "The local authority gave us permission to build the houses there.

"The 21 metres is the distance back to back between the houses.

"The measurements have been taken from the main face of the property and, on this occasion, someone has built an extension."

The spokesman said the ditch that residents were talking about had not been taken away, but was being maintained.

He said: "We are emptying it to make an existing waterway run freely and have had a letter from the Environment Agency to confirm that."

A spokesperson for Wear Valley District Council said: "We are aware of the situation and are investigating this further."