A PUBLIC inquiry opened yesterday into an ongoing planning dispute in north-west Durham.

The inquiry at Consett Civic Centre concerns the building of 156 houses at Station Fields, Shield Row, Stanley, on a greenfield site of more than five acres. Earlier this month, the plans were changed to include 13 houses and changes to the layout, which developers Bowey Homes and Dunelm Castle Homes hope will enable the plan to win the approval of inspectors from the Government Office for the North-East.

ART EXHIBITION: Work by Martin Richman is on show at the Customs House, South Shields, until Sunday, June 2. The Come to Light exhibition features a whirligig studded with fairy lights, and four-metre lighting columns. The gallery is open Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 8pm, and Sundays from noon to 8pm. Entrance is free.

FREE COURSES: Chester-le-Street Community Association is offering free courses in hanging baskets, basic beauty, basic computing, soft furnishings and musical keyboards. Enrolment takes place on Friday from noon to 2pm. For further information call Tina Hutchinson on 0191-518 8220 or 0191-518 8284.

COUNCIL SURGERIES: Barbara Howarth, Durham county councillor for Belmont ward, will hold surgeries next Wednesday in Belmont Community Centre; on Monday, May 13 from 6pm to 6.45pm in Carrville Methodist Church; and from 7pm to 7.45pm in Belmont library.

ROCK NIGHT: Newcastle band The Star Spangled Chestwigs will be performing the songs of the 1970s tomorrow at O'Neills Irish bar in Claypath, Durham. The music starts at 8.30pm and admission is free.

MUSEUM VISIT: Tickets are still available for the National Art Collections Fund Durham and Cleveland Group's visit to the Oriental Museum, in Durham, on Saturday. The event starts at 6pm, and tickets, priced £15, are available on (01833) 631055.

NEW PERMITS: People in the Chester-le-Street district with surnames beginning with A to M can renew their free concessionary bus passes today at the town's Civic Centre, Newcastle Bank, from 9am until noon and from 2pm to 3.30pm.

TELLING TALES: A free storytime event for pre-school children will be held today at 11am in the Durham Clayport library in the Millennium City complex.

FOLK NIGHT: Haswell Folk Club will hold a a singers' and musicians' night in The Wayfarer pub in Front Street, Haswell, on Friday at 8.30pm. Admission is free.

FLOWER DATE: Peterlee and District Flower Club will hold an open meeting next Wednesday, in the Shotton Hall Banqueting Suite, Peterlee, at 7.15pm. Tickets cost £4. For further details call 0191-586 2930.

CRAFT FAIR: A craft fair will be held from 10am to 4.30pm in Durham Town Hall on Saturday.