IT was particularly sad when Cllr Heather Scott and Peter Gibson MP, in their haste to score points over their opponents in the article about the proposed Skerningham Garden Village (Echo, Mar 17), did not mention the residents in north east Darlington who will have to live alongside this monstrosity and will be adversely affected by it.

Residents in north east Darlington are solidly and totally against the garden village proposal on sound environmental, planning and economic grounds and this has been communicated consistently and regularly to Darlington Borough Council since the proposals were first announced in 2017. Yet the views of residents do not seem to count – why?

Residents know that their lives will be made far worse because the countryside and the woodland which they value, cherish and respect and which contributes to their health and wellbeing will be gone.

Skerningham and the Berrymead Farm/Burtree Lane housing developments will also result in already congested roads becoming more gridlocked for longer and greater pollution. Grafting a major housing development onto an existing over-stretched infrastructure will be a big mistake.

Climate change is happening and this development will not help, but leaving the countryside and woodland untouched may well help to reduce the adverse effects of climate change.

On these grounds the Skerningham Garden Village should not go ahead.

Alan Macnab, Darlington.