A CIVIC trust is threatening to take a council to court for failing to recognise a petition opposing plans to revamp an historic area.

The row between Darlington Borough Council and Darlington Civic Trust, over the preservation of the town's High Row, is deepening.

The trust is angry the council is planning to demolish Victorian steps, balustrades and railings as part of a £6.5m pedestrianisation scheme.

Its members have spent the past four months collecting the signatures of shoppers who are also opposed to the scheme.

However, when the trust presented the 4,600-signature petition to the council on Wednesday, the council said it might not be taken into consideration.

This was because most of the signatures were collected before the official planning applications were submitted, on January 21.

In a letter to the council, the trust said: "If you choose to advise the planning applications committee and the First Secretary of State to ignore this petition, that will be a matter for regret. If the committee itself chooses to ignore it, that could be a matter for the courts."

The letter asks for a copy of the petition to be forwarded to the Secretary of State.

Yesterday, a council spokesman said: "We will take their comments into account and advise the planning committee."

The trust said the petition opposed the destruction of Victorian aspects of High Row, and those plans had remained the same.