CAMPAIGNERS are racing against time to mobilise protests over a Guisborough homes scheme.

Residents are being urged to lodge objections immediately in a bid to halt plans to build 15 detached homes on open space.

An action group has written to householders telling them they have only until Wednesday to make their views known.

The moves are being spearheaded by Gambol - Guisborough against more building on open land - in response to plans for new homes on the site of a former riding school at Campion Drive.

Gambol spokesman Mr Mike Heagney said: "We have fended off schemes to lose open spaces to housing, but this is a new threat."

He said the land concerned was withdrawn from an area which became part of an earlier public inquiry and so was not subject to the findings.

"We feel this land should not be built on and are urging people to write to the borough council opposing this development," he said.

The group's objections include:

l The houses will generate considerable traffic, possibly threatening the safety of children attending nearby schools.

l Only a small section of the site could be classed as 'brownfield.' Much was open space which had never been built on.

l Redcar and Cleveland's population was declining.

l The houses would be closer to Hutton Beck than any built in the last 50 years, bringing implications for pollution and the present sewage system.

l The development would contribute to the loss of Hutton's historic landscape.

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