FAMILIES who face losing tens of thousands of pounds when their homes are demolished are banding together to fight for compensation.

Thirty homeowners on Bishop Auckland's St Andrew's Estate launched a double pronged attack on Wear Valley District Council and the Government at a weekend meeting.

Their houses are among 120 properties in Cuthbert's Walk and St Aidan's Walk which council chiefs say are too dangerous to leave standing because they have asbestos in the walls and corrosive salts in the concrete foundations.

The council's legal advisors say they are not liable to compensate people who bought their homes under the right-to-buy scheme because the defects were not known at the time.

Some owners insist that the council did know and are trawling through old records in a search for evidence.

A small group is asking for a meeting with housing ministers in London, claiming the Government must share liability because it introduced the 'Drury' steel-framed construction system when the estate was built 40 years ago.

The owners' meeting followed a public meeting on Thursday when they and disgruntled tenants confronted council housing bosses in St Andrew's Primary School.

They learned that work to flatten the estate will start early next year.

Some residents raised health concerns when they were told by housing director Michael Laing that asbestos must not be disturbed.

They are also angry at a proposed re-housing schedule giving people from the first houses to be demolished first choice of property.

Ward councillor John Lethbridge is calling on Bishop Auckland MP Derek Foster and MEP Stephen Hughes to press for Government support.