RESIDENTS who are protesting against a new garage in Bishop Auckland are being urged to study planning applications in detail.

Homeowners in Langley Grove and Lambton Drive are appealing against plans for a 5.2 metre-high garage which was approved recently by councillors.

Residents say they are paying the price for failing to view the proposals properly when they received notification in November 2003, and are advising others not to make the same mistake.

Carol Blenkinsopp said: "The council's standard planning notification letter does not show any measurements, but gives you the opportunity to view the said plans at their department at Wear Valley Council, in Crook, or the Old Bank Chambers, in Bishop Auckland. "The neighbours of Langley Grove and Lambton Drive assumed that the planning application was only for a standard-sized garage and thought no more about viewing the plans.

"I would warn people to actually take time and view planning applications that they may receive ,which could affect them directly."

Pensioners Gordon and Mary Hunt, who have lived in Lambton Drive for almost 25 years, said the new garage is overbearing and have appealed against its height.

Mrs Blenkinsopp said: "Our complaint is not with the owner of the garage, it is with the council."

Mark Arbuthnot of Wear Valley District Council, who is investigating the complaints, said he saw nothing to suggest the council was guilty of injustice through maladministration.