Villagers petition against housing

About 200 people in Middridge, near Newton Aycliffe, have signed the protest petition against a development that would see 270 houses built on a farmer's field near their homes.

They say the proposals for the houses at High Thickley Farm, in nearby Shildon, will ruin an area of green land and cause the village to lose its identity.

David Middleton, from Eden Grove, said: "The vast majority of people wanted to sign the petition for three main reasons. They are building on green land, Middridge could lose its individual identity and the problems that would be caused by the increase in traffic.''

Mr Middleton and fellow resident Arnold Miller, from Northside, who have both lived in the village for more than 30 years, handed in the petition at Sedgefield Borough Council yesterday.

Mr Miller said: "I don't think that these people realise that the majority of the people who would live in those houses would have to travel towards Newton Aycliffe to get to work.

"If you are looking at two cars per household this would mean over 500 cars travelling through the village.''

Theakston's Estates plans to build "high quality, energy-efficient and well-designed houses", as well as promising to create informal recreation, landscaping and woodland in the project.

The proposals were discussed at length at a special meeting of Shildon Town Council's general purposes committee on Monday night, at which councillors also voiced traffic concerns.

Members decided that although they did not object to the plans, they wanted assurances that the area of the field designated as woodland would remain as such, with no future development.

Nathaniel, Lichfield and Partners, acting on behalf of Theakstons Estates, has always maintained that it would listen to the views of residents and take on board their comments when applying for outline planning permission.

The plans are to be discussed shortly by Sedgefield Borough Council's development control committee.