Angry residents to seek legal advice over link road

Engineers began building the Eastern Transport Corridor earlier this year after a decade-long campaign to win Government funding for the route, which aims to reduce congestion in the town.

But people living at the nearby Red Hall estate complained when workers began to lay the track on top of a 7ft embankment - even though plans for the project showed the road at ground level.

After admitting that the change was a deviation from the original plans, Darlington Borough Council planning officers claimed there was no need to apply for fresh permission because the change constituted a "minor alteration".

Residents believe passing drivers will be able to look straight into their bedroom windows if the 300-yard stretch next to Coombe Drive stays at its existing level.

The council held a public meeting last month between residents and the developers to discuss the change. Site supervisor Martin Young told the meeting that the track needed to be elevated because the groundworks needed to keep it at ground level would have stretched into land the council does not own.

He said it would cost another £1.5m to flatten the road and added: "This is money the council has not got."

Last night, Cyril Johnston, who lives less than 40 metres away from the road in Goodison Way, said: "We are going to seek legal advice and will decide where to progress from there.

"I have told them that we are looking into the ways and means to see if we can do something about this legally."

Mr Johnston, 74, said residents have written to the Government to complain about the road.

A Darlington council spokesman said: "Our planning department's view remains that the difference in height is not so significant as to warrant any further permission being needed.

"We still very much hope to work with residents to come up with a landscaping scheme that will benefit them and still intend to include noise protection measures between the road and their properties."