PLANNING officials are to ask a developer to consider replacing a proposed house with a bungalow to prevent the building blocking out a neighbour's light.

Sedgefield Borough Council's development control committee considered a planning application for 22 houses on land at the Dean Park estate.

A woman whose house will back on to the development told the committee it would block light to her bathroom.

She said she had lived in her bungalow for 28 years, which led her to believe she had a "right to light".

She said: "We are just swamped by high buildings now, behind, to the side and to the front.

"If I had conifers, I would be made to cut them down if I was blocking somebody's light, but you can't chop a gable-end down."

Council solicitors said the woman might have rights regarding light, but that would be a matter between her and the developer and was not a planning consideration.

Planning officers said the window was for a non-habitable room, so would not warrant refusal of the proposal, and recommended councillors approve the application.

But Kester Noble, vice-chairman of the committee, said there were already several bungalows on the estate.

He said: "I would have thought we could have got together and looked at this scenario and built a bungalow on this corner."

Planning officers said they could not force the developer to replace a house with a bungalow, but would discuss the idea. A decision on the plan was deferred.