A PARISH council is fighting plans to build pensioners' bungalows on its unofficial village green.

Pittington Parish Council will urge Durham City Council to refuse planning permission for the scheme, put forward by Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association.

The council is concerned that pensioners will be living next to a busy road that lorries use on their way to a wood mill.

The proposal is for eight two-bedroom homes, north of Coalford Lane, High Pittington.

The association, which has 1,500 homes around the county and a waiting list of 1,050 people, said the application was drawn up, in consultation with the city council, to meet demand in the Pittington area.

Parish council chairman Bill Kellett, who is also a city councillor, said: "We are unanimously against this proposed development.''

The council has objected to plans by Taylormade Timber Products to extend the working hours of its plant at Sherburn Hill until 1am each day.

Coun Kellett said: "We have had complaints about heavy traffic passing through the village, and we have a proposal for old people's bungalows right next to the road that they use.

"The residents would have to cross the road to get to the bus stop. It is an accident in the making.''

He said the site for the proposed scheme had been used as a village green for more than 20 years.

It had been reclaimed from the colliery, and was an attractive area with trees and bulbs.

He said: "The village has limited amenities. There is no doctor or a chemist's, and we have only a very poor bus service.

"People in Pittington tend to have been born and bred in the village. Few people tend to move into the village.''

The city council has deferred a decision on the Taylormade Timber Products' application, which is also opposed by Shadforth and Sherburn parish councils.

Officers are discussing with the company amendments to the proposed extension of operating hours to meet the concerns about lorries.

The development control committee heard last month that there had been many complaints about village traffic made to Durham County Council, the highways authority.