MODEL-PLANE enthusiasts from a Chester-le-Street club have come crashing down to earth after a district council imposed a no-fly zone on them.

Members of the club are furious after Derwentside District Council gave them permission to fly radio-controlled model aircraft, only to withdraw that when they received complaints from the public.

After just six weeks of flying at the Genesis site in Consett, the council received dozens of complaints about the noise and claims that people walking nearby had been sworn at by club members.

Martin Johnson, secretary of the 85-member Chester-le-Street Radio Model Club, says having their wings clipped in such a way is unfair.

He explained: "The club has been running since the Sixties and used to meet at the Riverside in Chester-le-Street, but that had to stop when it was developed for the cricket club.

"We then moved to a farmer's field in Craghead but we had to move on from there because of foot-and-mouth disease."

The club then applied to Derwentside District Council's land and property department for permission to use the Genesis site, which was once the town's steelworks.

Mr Johnson added: "We were very happy with the site but then the council withdrew our flying licence. We feel very bitter about this.

"The club paid the council a £100 licence fee, a £117 surveyor's fee and another £190 for a planning application.

"We are affiliated to the British Model Flying Association and abide by their rules on noise."

The club, which boasts membership from a wide area, includes national control-line combat flyer Dave Riley, of Burnopfield, among its members.

Council leader Alex Watson said that an application to the authority's planning department was still being considered by the council.

He also confirmed that they received a number of complaints.

"We were simply responding to a number of complaints. I received complaints about noise and so did officials of the council. There were also complaints that people who walk on the site have received verbal abuse from club members.

"They are not being very neighbourly and if they had been more co-operative it might have been a different story."