ANGRY residents are preparing for a battle with developers over plans to demolish two large homes to make way for a block of flats.

People living in The Avenue, Eaglescliffe said the area would be blighted by over-development and additional traffic if Stockton Borough Council gives the plan the go-ahead next week.

Members of Eaglescliffe Preservation Action Group (EPAG) have been leafleting homes in and around the area and are preparing to protest during a site visit.

They are encouraging as many people as possible to turn out for the site visit and planning committee meeting next week.

Win Campbell, who has lived in The Avenue for 23 years, said group members were against the over- development of Eaglescliffe as a whole, not just their road.

"I don't see this as a case of not in my back yard, but as a threat to the whole area," she said.

"If this plan goes ahead, we will see large houses going down like dominoes and Eaglescliffe and Yarm will be changed for ever."

Mrs Campbell said the plots of land had been interpreted as brownfield sites, which she believed was wrong and out of context.

She said her understanding of a brownfield site was that it was shabby, an underused eyesore or contaminated.

But she said if Stockton council granted permission, it would be allowing the demolition of two large detached houses, each worth more than £500,000, in order to provide "high density dwellings for maximum profit".

The application involves more than 40 luxury flats, earmarked for people aged 55 and over.

Residents fear the application will be allowed because as the land has been built on before, there may be no valid reason to refuse a new development.

Eaglescliffe Parish Council has voiced its concerns about plans in the area to demolish good properties to make way for flats.

Eaglescliffe Borough Councillor John Fletcher said: "I'm always sorry that houses that are perfectly good are being demolished to make way for flats.

"I'm also concerned about the extra traffic that will be generated on what is a private road, which leads up to Teesside High School.

"I just hope a satisfactory solution will be found, but it can be difficult with planning law."

The site visit will take place at 11.45am, in The Avenue, next Tuesday.

The planning meeting will take place at Stockton Library, in Church Road, at 1.30pm next Wednesday.