EFFORTS to protect a community's last open space is facing failure tomorrow.

Retired welder Fred Smith, backed by some residents of High Grange Estate, at Gilesgate Moor, Durham, is applying for village green status for a small plot of land between their homes and the A690 dual carriageway.

The 3.5-acre site - farm land until the estate was built by developer William Leech in the 1960s - is rough grassland said to be used by local people out walking, exercising their dogs and by children.

Mr Smith's application is backed by 26 people, 24 who live in neighbouring streets.

But it is opposed by site owners, David Hutchinson and Terence Bates, of Fieldhouse Lane, Durham, who acquired the land from William Leech in February 2003.

They were refused planning permission by Durham City Council to develop homes on the site last year, a decision they unsuccessfully appealed.

Refusing planning permission, the city council said while the site has no designation as "protected open space", a housing development was considered an unacceptable form of development due to its greenfield nature.

Mr Smith said: "I bought this house when it was built in 1967 and it was then on the eastern outskirts of Durham.

"I now consider it on the western fringe of Belmont Industrial Estate, and this is the last bit of open space left.

"All I want to do is ensure there is at least one green space in the area."

The application will be considered tomorrow by Durham County Council's licensing, registration and general purposes committee.

Reporting to the committee, the council's deputy chief executive, Andrew North, said the fact that only 24 local people back the bid on an estate with an adult population of 1,195 does not demonstrate "significant use" by local inhabitants.

He also said there is no evidence of sport being played on the land, and the state of the grass precludes anything other than walking on the few paths crossing the site.

Mr Smith must prove that for 20 years a significant number of inhabitants in the locality have "indulged in lawful sports and pastimes as of right, and continue to do so".

Mr North will recommend the committee refuses the application.