PLANNERS yesterday approved proposals to create a major development on a former community hospital site.

English Partnerships now has outline planning permission to build on land at Shotley Bridge Hospital, near Consett.

It applied for approval to develop 280 houses, a nursery school, a primary healthcare centre, a woodland area and the necessary infrastructure on the 13-hectare site.

Derwentside District Council's development control committee approved the application, despite opposition from residents.

The council received 58 letters of opposition to the plan, 13 from Stepping Stones Nursery, which closed last week and has moved to Number One Industrial Estate, in Consett.

Residents fear the development will lead to increased traffic congestion, worsen fears over road safety and dilute services used by villagers.

The application is a revised version of a plan submitted in 2003 by the Department of Health, purely for housing.

The development will be on land no longer needed by the hospital, and access to the site will be from Elm Park Terrace, as well as Queen's Road and Woodlands Road.

English Partnerships is proposing to build at a rate of 50 houses a year, and expects to be completed by 2012.

Demolition of disused hospital buildings that have suffered storm damage and vandalism began on Monday and is expected to last six months.

The work is not expected to affect the ongoing operation at the site.