A HISTORIAN has made a final plea to Stockton Borough Council not to rubber stamp plans for a £25m development on open land.

The Government has given permission for the business and homes park at Bowesfield, in Stockton, which it is hoped will create up to 1,700 jobs.

There will not be a full inquiry into the plans after the Secretary of State for the Environment announced he would not be taking the matter further.

The application will be referred back to Stockton council, which granted planning permission in July.

Robert Habron, who has taken hundreds of children and parties on trips around the area during the past 14 years, has appealed to the council to think again.

He said: "I have had the pleasure of taking parties of children on the Teesside Princess, on the Tees, to Preston Park and Yarm, and the look of awe as we leave Stockton behind and within minutes are deep in limitless green and open sky has to be seen.

"I ask the council, please listen to people who care for their town and its environment."

The development will feature a business park, 120 homes, landscaping, car dealerships and a hotel.

Detailed designs are expected to be unveiled this year with work starting on the site either late in the year or early next year.

Philip Baker, a divisional planning and quality manager for developers Banks Group, said: "The development will provide work and employment opportunities for an economically-struggling area of Teesside."

Councillor Bob Cook, the council's cabinet member for regeneration and development, said: "The planning committee came to a decision after long consultations with different bodies, and it has been decided the application will go ahead."

Banks Group was allowed to apply for planning permission despite the site being a conservation area, because it had previously been built upon, so it is a designated brownfield site.