MULTI-MILLION pound plans for a golf resort to rival the Belfry, Celtic Manor or Gleneagles are likely to be approved next week, despite neighbours’ claims they are well off course.

Ramside Estates wants to raise the cash needed to upgrade Ramside Hall Hotel, near Durham City, by building 34 homes nearby.

They want to fund a £17m expansion, including 44 new bedrooms, nine extra golf holes, a 700-capacity banqueting suite and leisure facilities, by building 21 executive homes on the golf course’s 25th and 26th holes and 13 other homes, including four-bedroom houses and two-bedroom cottages, at nearby Hill Top Farm, across Pittington Lane.

Residents of neighbouring Belmont and Carrville say the scheme would mean the loss of green belt land and unbearable extra traffic for Wantage Road.

Nearly 150 people signed a petition titled Save our Greenland.

Belmont Parish Council and the City of Durham Trust conservation group are also opposed to the plans.

However, no one from the highway authority, Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Coal Authority or the council’s ecology department has objected and more than 800 people have signed a petition in support.

The proposals go before a committee on Tuesday and planning officials recommend they be given the go-ahead.

In a report to councillors, officers say the impact on jobs, tourism and the local economy mean there are “very special circumstances”, justifying building on the green belt.

Ramside Estates, which employs 550 staff, said the scheme would: create 104 new jobs; boost the local economy by £11m a year; create the largest conference facilities available in the North-East; and produce a golf complex comparable to the best in Europe, including the Belfry, Celtic Manor or Gleneagles.

In a statement, it said: “The expansion and improvements at Ramside Hall will have enormous benefits. We feel these improvements are so significant that there is a strong case for approval of the planning application.”

The plans will go before the county planning committee, at County Hall, Durham, on Tuesday, at 2pm.