A HOUSING development is to be built on land once used as an auction mart in an east Durham village.

Acorn Residential won outline planning permission to build a mix of 83 semi and detached houses in Haswell, between Durham and Peterlee.

The near eight-acre site previously served as a social club, builder's yard, car park, as well as part agriculture and railway property, before providing the setting for Haswell Mart.

But some of the land, described by planners as in need of a revamp, is said to have deteriorated in recent years.

Despite misgivings raised by Haswell Parish Council over possible traffic problems and off-street parking, plus police concerns over the potential for youths to congregate on pedestrian links to the development, the scheme won general support.

Easington District Council's head of planning and building control, Ian Forster, said none of the concerns was considered strong enough to raise a "substantive reason" to refuse the application.

Part of the site is in an area not allocated for housing in the district's adopted plan.

However, members of the council's development control and licensing panel granted Acorn Residential conditional approval, agreeing it was a justified departure from the adopted plan.