THREE new housing estates for north-west Durham will not include play areas, but cash put aside will go towards new parks.

Derwentside District Council's development control committee yesterday approved planning applications for 245 homes in Consett and Stanley.

Under planning laws, builders can choose not to create play areas for large developments and can instead pay the local authority an amount of money in lieu, called a commuted sum. In this case, it will be £58,200.

A recent inspection by the Audit Commission criticised play area provision in the district. But Mike Clark, the council's general manager, said the authority was making progress.

He said: "The idea of the commuted sums is that it all goes into a central pot, to administer community play areas and parks throughout the district."

He also said the authority is working on a £90,000 scheme to provide three play areas in Consett and Stanley. The council is also making plans to regenerate View Lane Park, in Stanley.

The developments approved yesterday included an estate of 121 homes, on land to the east of the former Consett Engineering Works, Park Road, Blackhill, Consett.

The former engineering building will be demolished to make way for a mixture of three and four-bedroomed detached and semi-detached homes, plus some town houses. An access road will be built off Genesis Way.

The development is part of Project Genesis, which aims to rejuvenate the industrial heart of the town. The western end of the site is earmarked for housing, while the eastern end, formerly the steelworks, will be redeveloped as a commercial centre.

Barratt Newcastle also won approval for 97 houses to the south of Lambton Avenue, Delves Lane, near Consett.

And Lancing Homes has permission for 27 homes on the site of the former school in Catchgate, near Stanley.

At the same time, more than 130 council homes will be demolished, mostly in Moorside, Consett. Sixteen properties in The Bungalows will go, along with 50 in Devon Crescent and 62 in Dorset Crescent.

Two homes will be demolished in Derwent Crescent, Leadgate. In Tantobie, near Stanley, four will be demolished in Woodside Grove, and another four in Palm Terrace.