A HIGH court hearing to decide the outcome of a three-year planning row had been cancelled.

Caravan owner Thomas Walker-Coates has submitted a third application to keep his home on land in Sadberge, near Darlington.

A proposed judicial review, which was due to take place on Thursday, was vacated because of the new planning bid.

Darlington Borough Council refused him retrospective planning permission in 2004 for the caravan and dog kennels, on the land at Middleton Road, on an embankment by the A66.

He lodged an appeal and the council's decision was upheld a year later.

A second planning application was dismissed because it was the same as the first, and the council then issued an enforcement notice. Mr Walker-Coates' solicitors asked for a judicial review against the decision.

He also put his land up for sale and submitted a third application.

Those plans are expected to be heard by the council's planning committee at one of its next two meetings.

A council spokesman said: "The new application from Mr Walker-Coates is expected to be heard by the planning committee in June."