RESIDENTS have lost their seven-year fight to keep a green space behind their homes.

Developer Vestbrown has been given planning permission for a scheme to build 169 houses on greenfield land between the Coast-to-Coast cycle route and Tanfield Lea South Industrial Estate, in Shield Row, Stanley.

People living in Shield Row thought they had succeeded in preserving the site, which is known as Station Fields, after the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister found in their favour at a public inquiry last year.

John Prescott's ruling in September last year halted the multi-million pound deal, on the grounds that the new homes would be too close to units on the nearby industrial estate.

But planning officers at Derwentside District Council have spent the past 12 months working with the developer to tackle the issue of noise.

A fresh application was put forward and this time the Government offered no objections.

The district council's development control committee has granted permission for the scheme, providing that alterations to the industrial units generating noise is carried out before building work begins.

The alterations will include constructing a flue and erecting an acoustic barrier around a diesel pump.

Derwentside District Council leader Councillor Alex Watson said: "There is a big demand for new housing of this sort in Derwentside and this development shows that we are committed to the regeneration of Stanley."