Plans by Durham City Council to sell off land in a former pit village for housing have run into opposition.

The council wants outline permission from its development control committee for two areas south of Wood View, at Croxdale.

However, residents are opposed to the idea, saying it will mean the loss of a play area and will spoil the village.

The committee was recommended by planning officers to approve the scheme, but councillors agreed to postpone a decision and visit the site, after local Councillor Joe Anderson spoke out against the scheme.

He said: "If you built on other sites in the village, that would be excellent, but people have the right to some recreation, and if we take this land away they will have nothing.

"This strip of land is for the people - it is open space - and if you build a street of houses there, it would be disgraceful.

"A lot of tenants bought houses off the council and they were told there would be no development there."

Coun Anderson said that many years ago there were houses on the site, but they were "pulled down because they were sliding down the bank".

The committee heard that letters of objection were lodged by 16 residents against the proposed development, along with a 58-name petition opposing the land sell-off.

The objectors said they did not want to lose a "safe" children's play area, and claimed that the development would harm the village's character, lead to a loss of privacy and generate extra traffic.

They said that the district already had sufficient land for housing.

The City of Durham Trust objected to the Croxdale proposals and those for the other sites, saying it was opposed to housing development.

The committee approved plans for Front Street South, at Quarrington Hill, Lawson Road, at Bowburn, and Hallgarth Street, in Durham.

The Hallgarth Street site is a 16-space car park near the driving test centre.

Elvet Residents Association opposed the loss of the car park. New parking restrictions were recently introduced in the street