BATTLE lines are being drawn for a renewed fight over proposals to build houses on land local people deem their "village green".

Last month, Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association (Damha) was refused planning permission to build an eight-bungalow complex on open space in High Pittington, near Durham.

Members of Durham City Council's development control committee rejected the proposal following a site visit.

Committee members said it conflicted with the draft local plan, would lead to a loss of open space for villagers, and cited road safety concerns.

Pittington Parish Council, which opposed the proposal, has applied for village green status for the land, off Coalford Lane, but that may not be resolved until next year.

Damha has lodged an appeal against refusal of planning permission, so the issue will be thrashed out at a public inquiry, provisionally in December.

Association chairman Bob Olaman said Damha is seeking to meet a need for housing for the elderly in the Pittington area.

He said the county council's highways department raised no objection and claimed the development would take up only a third of the site, leaving the majority free for use by residents.

Mr Olaman said the development complied with the existing local plan for the area, as new draft guidelines have yet to be adopted.

He said Coalford Lane was considered the only suitable local site and the county council has agreed to sell it to Damha. He warned that £400,000 of Government subsidy would be lost to the area if the scheme failed to materialise.

"I'm disappointed that since 1995 the city council has sought to develop the site and now after spending a lot of time and money on design, site surveys and the like, we have been refused planning permission."

Parish council chairman Bill Kellett said the strength of feeling locally had not waned. He said that if permission was granted for the bungalows that would just be the start of developments.