A COUNCIL is being recommended to ignore the views of residents and give the go-ahead for flats to be built in a shopping precinct.

CM Yuill and the Mowden Park Estate Company has applied for planning permission to redevelop the Mowden shopping parade in Fulthorpe Avenue, Darlington.

The developer, which owns the site, is seeking to demolish three of the shops and replace them with 32 flats.

There are also proposals to refurbish the remaining shops, which were built in the 1970s.

But people living near the parade are opposed to the development, and more than 20 letters of objection and a petition have been sent to Darlington Borough Council.

Residents have cited a number of objections, including concern that three-storey buildings will overlook their properties and that the development will increase road congestion.

Members of the council's planning applications committee will be told on Wednesday that the site of the flat scheme is at a lower level than the houses.

The authority believes the extra traffic generated by the new properties will be outweighed by the reduction in trips to the shops facing demolition.

Concerns over unsociable behaviour by youths at the precinct will be addressed by a closed-circuit television system, which will be connected to the council system.

Planning officers are recommending the plan be approved, subject to a number of conditions.