THIS week I attended the meeting of Spennymoor Town Council’s Policy and Resources Committee and heard plans by Durham County Council to grant planning permission for 338 new houses in on land north of Durham Road in Middlestone Moor.

This will put even more weight on Spennymoor’s already creaking infrastructure as it will have to support more people.

DCC has spent the past 15 years selling off industrial land for housing, merging schools and at the same time granting planning permission for houses such as at Merrington Lane, Whitworth Park and Burton Wood - more urban sprawl eating up the countryside.

These plans will add nearly 700 more people to the town’s population pushing it to breaking point. Any money that is provided by Section 106 agreements or the New Homes Bonus will go into the County Council’s general fund and not to Spennymoor.

How much more can this town take?

Martin Jones, Spennymoor