ANGRY residents of a Darlington street yesterday hit out at a decision to demolish a block of garages - and replace them with more housing.

Homeowners in Welbeck Avenue, in the Haughton area of town, said building seven homes would make the congestion situation worse and that many of them had personal experiences of their cars or property being damaged by passing vehicles.

A Darlington Borough Council planning committee approved an application by Endeavour Housing Association on Wednesday, for social housing to be built in Welbeck Avenue.

Outraged residents collected a 75-name petition, and several letters of objection were sent to the council.

Yesterday, they said they were furious the plan would go ahead, and predicted traffic chaos.

Kay Roberts, who is leading the residents' protests, spoke out against the proposals at the planning meeting.

"The parking and traffic situation here is so bad that ambulances and fire engines can't get down, and often we can't get our cars down our own street," she said.

"There have been a lot of accidents and incidents with vehicles down here, both reported and unreported.

"We will also be losing a play area for small children, there will be nowhere for them to play and, considering the traffic problems down here, that could be very dangerous.

"These new properties are going to bring even more traffic to an already congested area. We're all very, very disappointed."

Denise Parkin, another resident of Welbeck Avenue, said: "We have been fighting for two years for off-street parking, but then this happens.

"The traffic is a nightmare, three times in six months our car was damaged by other cars. We all got to the point where we thought we'd had enough.

"We were determined to fight against this, but it seems that, despite our petition and the letters of objection, that didn't seem to matter."

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said a thorough planning survey was carried out.

"The Highways Agency looked at parking on the site, and reported its findings to the planning committee," she said.

"Some parking provision recommendations were included in the recommendations to the committee.

"We have tried to consider the objections as far as we can, and the developer is aware of our findings."