A COUPLE faced with the prospect of seeing the housing estate where they have lived for 18 years being demolished have won the right to a High Court review of their case.

Valerie and Frank Hogg, aged in their fifties, are devoted to their two-bedroom terraced home and garden at Quigley Terrace, on the Elizabethville Estate, Birtley, near Chester-le-Street.

They bought their home under the Right to Buy scheme in 1991, but it is now among 60 houses on the estate targeted for demolition by Gateshead Borough Council.

Yesterday, after a brief hearing, Mr Justice Moses declared their complaints about the council's stance "arguable", opening the way for a full judicial review of the couple's case.

He banned any demolition work being carried out for the next seven days and ordered that the couple's case take priority in busy court lists and be heard as soon as possible.

Mr and Mrs Hogg say that when they bought their home they were reassured by council officers that there were no further plans for demolition on the estate.

Their counsel, Mr Stephen Cragg, argued that gave them a "legitimate expectation" they would be fully consulted before the demolition proposals were accepted by the council in March this year.

In April, the couple received a letter from the council informing them their home had been targeted for demolition and offering to buy it from them. They were told they would be re-housed.

But Mr and Mrs Hogg's lawyers argue the demolition scheme is "voluntary in name only", as they will effectively have no choice but to sell up and move if their neighbours' homes are demolished around them.