RESIDENTS in Middleton St George are celebrating after winning a long-running battle against plans to build blocks of flats in their village.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Darlington Borough Council planning committee turned down Mandale Properties' application to build seven houses and three blocks containing 24 flats on the former Arctic Milburn site in Killinghall Row.

The developer previously had permission for 28 detached houses on the site, but the planning committee felt the revised plans were not in keeping with the character of the village.

Coun Doris Jones, council member for the village, spoke on behalf of residents who objected to the flats.

She said: "We just can't soak up any more houses inside Middleton St George. This development is totally out of keeping with the area; there are no other three-storey blocks of flats in the village."

This view was shared by Coun Gerald Lee, who said: "I cannot agree and will never agree that three-storey flats should be built in a rural area.

"There is a need to retain the character of our villages. I am sure that, in a few years' time, people would consider this as almost planning vandalism."

Council planner Adrian Miller had recommended approval of the scheme, saying the flat blocks "have an acceptable relationship with proposed and existing housing".

He also suggested conditions that Mandale Properties made financial contributions for improvements at the village primary school and an outdoor play area.