A SOCIAL housing development is to be created on the site of a former country store.

The Three Rivers Housing Association plans to build six bungalows, four houses and a block of four flats at Eden Lane in Gainford, Teesdale District Council planning south committee heard on Wednesday.

The chairman, Coun Robin Simpson, said a late notification from the highways authority had expressed unhappiness about the entrance to the site, but did not see it as an insurmountable problem.

Planning officer Trevor Watson told members that there were no objections to the proposed access to the development; it was the layout that was inappropriate.

Local member, Coun Ken Hodgson, said there had been worries about access in Eden Lane. There had also been comments about the block of flats, which would be prominent from the bottom of the lane, and about drainage, which he hoped would be addressed. Otherwise, he was happy to recommend approval.

Members agreed to grant planning permission, subject to the highways problem being sorted out, the entering of an agreement to provide £6,400 for the provision of off-site public space and 16 planning conditions.