FEARS of a massive clearance of houses in the North Road section of Darlington were quashed this week.

Streets of terrace private housing dating from the nineteenth century have been identified as a priority for regeneration in the council's housing strategy for the next three to five years.

The North Road corridor has three such areas, featured in a survey two years ago of residential and commercial premises.

Consultants are now preparing a detailed development plan for all main routes into the town to maximise Darlington's role as a gateway to the Tees Valley.

The strategy says registered social landlords would play an essential part in the regeneration of communities.

Coun Ken Walker told Tuesday's social health and housing scrutiny committee: "There has been considerable alarm among residents, particularly those who have put a lot of money into their homes. They see this survey as the forerunner of perhaps a wholesale clearance of the area."

There was £850,000 in grants available to improve community housing in the town's most deprived areas.

But Coun Walker said: "Some private landlords own hundreds of houses. They can't possibly have the money to bring them up to a satisfactory condition.

"They very often buy rundown properties at knock-down prices, putting tenants in at the bottom of an ever-extending ladder."

In the past, grants had gone to individual residents, not private landlords.

Pauline Mitchell, housing manager, agreed there had been survey work to try to identify the issues.

"I can give an assurance that we are not talking about large-scale clearance."