RESIDENTS in the West End of Darlington have urged council planners to stick to their guns over plans to build four houses on open space in Edinburgh Drive.

The land, which is next to Hummersknott School, was sold at auction by Durham County Council in 1993.

However, Darlington Council sent a representative to the sale in London to advise any bidder that planning permission would never be given to develop the site .

The subsequent buyer, Kevin Davis, who lives in Merrybent, applied to build three two-storey houses there in 1994, but the proposal was rejected unanimously by Darlington planning committee.

An appeal followed and, after a two-day hearing, it was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate.

In his report, the planning inspector said "the use of land as open space is no less important than other uses" and "this is the key element in my determination of these appeals."

He added: "I have no doubt that the development of the site for even one house would detract from the open character of the area."

Now Mr Davis has submitted another application to build four three-storey houses on the land, and residents are gearing up to fight the plans all over again.

Several have already written letters to the council outlining their opposition to the proposals and urging it to honour its previous commitment to deny planning permission.

One objector who lives virtually opposite the site said: "I spoke on behalf of the residents who were against the original application and the locals are strongly opposed to these new plans."

He added: "The logic of this application escapes me. He could not get three houses before - the planning inspector said he would not permit even one - and now he is asking for four three-storey houses.

"These houses would only be about five feet apart and would be totally out of character."

Locals say the land was intended as a buffer zone between tennis courts in the school grounds and the road to avoid balls hitting traffic on Edinburgh Drive.

The planning inspector agreed, saying that the site should be regarded as "an integral and essential part of the court facilities."

As well as tennis, the courts are used regularly for five-a-side football, hockey and other games. And with the rear of the proposed houses being just a few yards away, objectors say conflict between residents and the school would be unavoidable.

A spokesman for the council planning department told the D&S Times that a decision on whether to recommend refusal or approval of the application had not yet been made.

He said: "If the decision is to refuse, it will not need to go before the committee. But, as we have had a number of objections, if we decided to recommend approval it would have to be considered by the members."