THE Green party has thrown its weight behind a campaign to stop a road and car park being built to access woodland off Barmpton Lane in Darlington.

Last month planning councillors heard local objections to the scheme and deferred a decision over permission to develop land at Skerningham Manor Farm.

Landowner, Mr M Corney, has already began making the site near Hutton plantation into a countryside gateway in conjunction with Tees Forest.

But an application to construct a 750-metre road from Barmpton Lane across a field to a 12-space car park was the last straw for local residents.

Their opposition to the scheme, which they claim will increase poaching, trespassing and theft and damage at neighbouring farms and homes, has been backed by the Council for the Protection of Rural England and now the Green party.

Green party spokesman and Darlington GP, Dr Robert Upshall, said he feared the scheme would not be an asset to the area.

He said: "Before allowing any development like this, which has already had serious impacts on local wildlife, the council must get assurances that it will be a real asset to the quality of the area.

"We fear it will not be. The landowner has given no clue as to what is planned for the site but all the signs are that it will generate traffic in a tranquil area, harm the local ecology, and make farming more difficult.

"The planning system is there to protect against this kind of abuse and it should be used to do just that."

A site visit by the planning committee is due to take place this afternoon at 1.30.