DEVELOPERS behind a big new estate that residents fear will dwarf their village have been given more time to complete highway improvements.

One of the last acts of Chester-le-Street District Council before its demise almost two years ago was to approve Persimmon Homes' plan to build 248 homes on farmland at Newfield, near Pelton.

The development, which had been in the pipeline in various forms for some time, was opposed by the Newfield Pelton Action Group for being out of scale with the existing village, the strain it will put on local facilities and the impact on the road network.

Among the conditions of permission were that the company had to build a roundabout on the A693 Stanley to Chester-le-Street road and a link path to the nearby C2C Sustrans cycle route.

Planners said the work had to be done by the time the 20th home in the development was completed and occupied.

Durfham County Council, successor to the defunct district, has backed a request from the firm to defer the requirement until the 40th home has owners living in it.

The council's North Durham area planning committee heard that in the current housing market Persimmon did not expect to sell the homes as quickly With reduced income and the cost of the roundabout scheme, the firm may have found the first phase to be of "marginal viability'', Councillors heard there had been objections to the change from a couple of residents and a local residents association.

But area planning manager James Taylor told councillors that the proposal was considered acceptable.

"We considered that there would be no undue harm to the traffic on the A693."

The change is approved provided the firm signs Section 106 agreements to give money for things including public art, traffic calming and a bus service.

The scheme will include 78 affordable homes, the majority were due to be shared ownership.

But the committee heard that those in the first phase would be sold for 70 per cent of market value instead because registered social landlords were not signing up for shared ownerships. The situation will be reviewed for later phases.

Peter Jordan,. of Persimmon, told councillors that work on old mineworkings under the site were being done and that construction of the first homes should start later this year.