COUNCILLORS are calling for revisions to controversial plans for travellers' accommodation at the gateway to a village.

Durham City Council's development control committee has deferred a decision on the proposed development in the hope it can be made more acceptable.

The Dolan family applied for permission to build a two-storey house and site a chalet-style mobile home, five caravans and an amenity block on the site of a former vehicle sales company in Commercial Road East, Coxhoe.

The family plan to use the site to raise their six children and run their roofing repairs, guttering and tarmac-laying business.

The scheme drew 29 letters of objection from residents, who said that it would spoil the village's improving image.

They have raised fears that the development might attract more travellers, that there is insufficient space at the local school for the children, and that it may devalue their homes.

But planning officers recommended that councillors approve the scheme.

Development control manager Allan Simpson said that "this proposal offers an opportunity to enhance a long neglected piece of land" and the benefits would outweigh any perceived harm.

The committee decided at a previous meeting to visit the site before making a decision.

Local councillor Maurice Crathorne, the council leader, said: "I'm very unhappy about the application and I think it is the wrong site. If it is to be approved, there has got to be something about the visual impact."

The committee agreed to defer a decision so that planning officers could negotiate with the applicants to draw up a more acceptable layout for the development