I think the proposed development at the old Feethams Ground is a good one for Darlington, lets face it there are houses being thrown up around this town every where u look, so why should the residents of Victoria Embankment miss out on all that the rest of us who have the downfall of having houses thrown up near us, Miss out??
Its nice to see that the local councillors are concerned for the residents living around that area, and that they are also concerned about the amount of traffic its going to produce...Just a shame the self same Councillors didnt think of the residents of Arkle Crescent in the same light before they agreed to the development that is now causing them daily problems, and having a really bad effect on their street, causing the people in and around Arkle Crescent danger, stress, and having a great knock on effect on their QUALITY OF LIFE!!
Oh and its a shame we dont have a councillor living in Arkle Crescent the same as the residents of Victoria Embankment do, if we did the development which they so gladly gave the green light too may not be happening right now...but then again its all down to MONEY and not what the people of this town think or want.

I think you'll find that the "good people" of Arkle Crescent and Skerne Park in general have had so much council money thrown their way in recent years as to be almost unbelievable...it's their choice to do nothing with the advantages handed to them;the new houses will end up the same way as the development over Firth Moor with residents plagued by jealous neighbours

As a resident of Arkle Crescent for over 10yrs now, i would like to know Matt, just exactly what council money the residents of Skerne Park and Arkle Crescent have had thrown at them?
In the last 12years all thats been done to the houses is to upgrade them to 21st century living which i think you might find was law, due to electrics etc becoming very out dated which could put residents in danger, the gardens were updated but that wasnt paid for by the council, it was a grant from the government which paid for that.
As for choice's as residents we didnt get a lot of choice and the said will be the same for the Victoria Embankment project,yes they may consult with residence but if the council are going to make money out of a project the residence dont have much of a look in, and i might point out here that there are very few council houses left in Arkle Crescent the majority of homes now are private so as private residents we have to work for what we want and dont get any council money thrown at us, mores the pity!
Im not sure at to whom your making out is going to be jealous of whom, but if it the residents of Skerne Park jealous of the new housing estate, then i personally have to disagree, i know my house is solid, I watch every day how these houses are being thrown together and wouldnt thank you for one, especially at the price they are going to be sold at, and if it should read the other way round then, we will look forward to seeing For Sale signs up every week just like they do over on the Firth Moor development.

The council has spent more per head in Skerne Park than in other boroughs of the town; the traffic calming roadworks, community centre, new school, double glazing properties etc. The new development should be welcomed, as it will attract more money to the estate. To suggest that the residents of Skerne Park are hard done by council wise is ridiculous

The amount of money that has been spend on Sherne Park to update it is irrelevant to the new development proposed for Feethams.
What people should be asking is are these house going to be affordable for young couples, who are probably in low paid jobs, and the flats affordable for single people in low paid jobs. This is essential to enable these hard working people to get onto the proprty ladder.
Matt do you work for DBC as their spin doctor, if not I suggest you apply for a job...if you are not successful they try becoming a local councillor at the next election.
Just for your information, Skerne Park don't have a new community centre, I think you'll find that that's being built on Redhall.
I don't live on Sherne Park or Redhall put feel it necessary to point out to you that there are many families living on council estates that are hard working and pay their morgage just like the rest of us and are entitled to the same level of respect and consultation as the councillor who lives on Victoria Embankment. Why should he have the plesasure of looking out onto green fields when every other green field in Darlington is being built on.

Those involved with the consultation process for the proposed Feethams development would do well to visit Arkle Crescent and speak with the residents before making their decision. Having no street lights for 2 of the darkest months of the year, mature trees and shrubbery removed against the plans, blocked sewers over the festive period and having access in or out of the street continually blocked by parked lorries has turned what could have been an exciting venture into a daily nightmare. I'm an ex-resident but still have family and friends in the road and am appalled with the little regard the developers seem to have for the well-being and quality of life of the residents during the building works. Perhaps the money which Matt mentions is the £100,000 which the developer is giving to the estate(Northern Echo 7th Sept 2007) but which will replace play equipment removed in advance of this development. As an aside, and probably getting away from the thread, I am curious to know why Matt feels the need to put the words good people in quotes. There are many good, decent and hard-working people living in Skerne Park, and to put those words into quotes only implies sarcasm and perpetuates the stigma attached to Skerne Park residents and the myth that good people do not live there. I would like to know what qualifies someone in Durham to make such an implication?

Having lived in Darlington for 30 odd years prior to moving, and also having had family on Skerne Park, I've seen first hand the attempts the council have made to regenerate the area, both with Government funding and the cash of council tax payers.I don't dispute there are many hard working, good, decent people there but neither am I blind to the fact that there are a lot who aren't. Developments like the one being debated will attract more decent, good, hardworking people to the area, which should be applauded not berated.

I agree yes the council have tried to improve the estate but for all the wrong reasons. The young children of Skerne park have no play area like they used to when i was younger, because the council have taken it away and replaced it with what??? More houses which are not needed. And Matt i really would like to know how you are sure that these new houses will house honest, hardworking people?? We could end up with more people who live off our tax money. And you may also notice that the people who are commenting on this are hard working people, because we actually care what our money goes towards as we are working all our lives to pay for it to happen, so its about time the council stopped accommodating non tax payers and start rewarding those who deserve it!! Like our children.

Never a truer word- I fully agree with the last comment. It's my understanding that the new homes will be for first time buyers and hard working people as opposed to handouts...

So matt u can be so sure that this new estate isnt going to have houses owned and let by private land lords?
And while i think about it Durham must be one hell of a city to have all hard working, tax paying, people living in it, it must be the only city/town in the whole of the united kingdom to have that...
I have nothing against people claiming benefits what so ever, as a former single mum ive claimed, lived and raised some of my children on benefits, but as thats getting off the said topic that we have here i wont go into it.
I personally dont believe this housing estate is going to be any different to the one i live on now, and at this moment in time its causing the occupents of Arkle Crescent more hassle than it should be doing, but as ive said many, many times before the councillor's or local council dont care about the people its effecting, all they see is the money which is going to be generated for them.
The name they have given this estate suits it well.."The Pastures" all you find in a pasture is what the animals leave behind and right now that's all this estate is a whole load of S***.

What i think they should do to the land at Feethams, is build the new tescos on it and then that would stop the residents of north road area from moaning on and then the people who live on victoria embankment can live in the new houses that are being built on the edge of skerne park and call it Skerne PASTURES or summit and then the people who live in Arkle Crescent can go and live on that Firthmoor Fields estate or summit and then the people who live on moorfields can go live in the houses of Victoria Embankment, well aye problem solved and then everyones happy and they can stop all of this moaning on, moan, moan, moan, honestly you lot make me sick, why don't you go and take a look down to the hospital wards and go and see some really poor people who can't breathe and walk or eat and poor sick children, honestly you lot don't know how lucky you all are,Muppets so give it a rest and shut up.Well aye, Big Sid has Spoken.

Good luck to you Tracey but I wouldn't live on Skerne Park if you paid me, new development or not...it's not that long since the bus companies refused to send the buses through so if the new buyers realise that, all the hassle will have been for nowt 'cos the houses won't sell

Well done Big Sid. I think you have managed in one short paragraph to prove the assumptions that most people make about Skerne Park residents and which I have spent most of my life standing up against. At least you didn't swear. Getting back to the Feethams development, my point was that, if an edge-of-town development is causing such upheaval for its nearest neighbours, if that upheaval was to be transposed to a town centre site, i.e. loss of street lighting, backed-up sewers and congestion from site traffic, absolute chaos will ensue. These considerations are a must if Feethams is to be embraced by the public as disruption in its earliest stages will only foster resentment towards the completed project. I am also curious to know how well our Victorian town centre sewers are coping with the number of blocks of flats that are springing up. Perhaps if wet summers such as the last are to become the norm, we may find that they are not!

I could'nt agree with you more Andrea on the state of the Victorian sewers in the centre of town as they must be in a dreadful state at this time of the year, as it to keeps me awake on a night honestly, worrying about it night after night about how them poor sewers are coping with all the sewage and taking it all and how they let it all go back in to the river Skerne and how the poor ducks who live on the river are affected and they have nowt to eat coz the kids dont feed them any bread coz of all the wet summers we are having and how the fish in the river cannot find anything to eat coz the river is full of c--p and toilet roll and how the poor park keeper in the park does'nt have any red sauce on his sandwiches and not enough sugar in his cup of tea on a breaktime, i tell you Andrea its a terrible town is'nt it but i tell you what aswell Andrea me darling, if you don't like living in good old Darlo why don't you just simply move and go elsewhere, and live happily ever after, moaning on about other places where there are problems, well aye, NEXT.

Davo! thanks, the problems this new development is causing to residents right now is just disgusting!, and i for one am not sitting back and having my insurace penalised because of some property developer and the neglect they are causing.
Also i cant say i blame the bus companies and thats another thing, this street is one way in and one way out! but now they are going to generate more traffic for a road that isnt built to take it.
The new residents of "Cow Patt Lane" will just have to walk into town if they cannot drive
And if the houses dont sell then at least the kids on Skerne Park will have a nice new play ground.

Mags luv, you're reading me all wrong like. I'm not moaning about the town and I absolutely love living here. Have done all my life. I'm simply saying that the planners ought to look at the mistakes that have been made with The Pastures and consider the underlying infrastructure while deciding whether to give the go-ahead to Feethams. Well aye. The end.

Andrea, please don't worry about the underlying infrastructure, coz its all underground and out of sight,and if you can't see it wheres the problem.I suggest we should meet up and have a nice cup of tea in town and have a chat over things and calm down, what do you say? and we can talk about real things like family,friends and Eastenders and Emmerdale, and whatever you want, so please let me know me darling, and take care Mags.

Mags, do u mean out of sight out of mind??
That is until its spilling out of your toilet down your stairs flooding your rooms, ruining your carpets, putting your children at risk! and causing u a whole load of inconvience, of having to clear up everyone else's S***???
Underground it maybe but its a major problem to some of us,
so therefore not something we can just ignore.
Oh and Andrea! i think we need to meet for a vodka and tonic!

Well done Sid/Mags/Cecil/Dave the driver and any other name that you go under. Got me good and proper and no mistake. Ever thought of becoming a comedy writer? You obviously have plenty of time on your hands sending these spoof comments in and winding people up. Probably still live at home with your mum in the same bedroom you grew up in. Well aye.

He got his alliteration all messed up with Cecil character, like, well aye. I hope he carries on now though like, don't you? That'd be crackin an all that of a Wensdur maaaaaaaaaaaarnun.

Well aye,I want to come clean, as you have called my bluff and i was only having a laff with you's all anyway and i did'nt mean any harm, and yes, i was making up different names and posting comments just to see who took it in and who never and to see what feedback i got as most of it was funny so am sorry Andrea,etc and have a nice day, and take care,love Cecil,Big Sid,Mags,Daz the driver,Barry,and Bryan Bellamy.But i was only trying to add a bit of humour to mostly dull,boring,and depressing storylines and have a bit of a laff with other readers mostly, glum and dreary comments and laff at their expense, well aye, i mean you are all alive and well and you only live once and so why not get outside and kick a football about or ride a bike thro some leaves or summit, not sit in and moan on about some stupid sewers,that are getting built near the river skerne which is full of crap anyway, and you all go on, moaning on and on and on, i mean do you really think by adding your comments on ere that its going to stop and change the developers from going ahead with there work anyway, i mean they won't listen to anyone other than the council and the only way to get there attention is to be like that Swampy bloke and dig tunnels and get out with you banners and create hassle so you can get other residents attention and get something positive started, power to the people and all that, so why not go out onto feethams yourselves and stand out there day after day and be a proper demonstrator and be passionate in what you believe in, coz that is the only way you can change things for the best, not sat indoors watching them doing it out of your windows and you are all sat in adding comments on ere with your duffle coats on all toggled up as you peep thro your net curtains humming and harping on about it, well aye, i am not being rude or disrespectful but i am allowed to add my comments just as you all are, and i have lived in Darlo all me life and if i was that bothered about something i would go out and stop it and get locked up and that, like demonstrators love to do and get clobbered round the head off a big, coppers ,truncheon and that and carry on but at least i would be trying to do something positive about it, and i would be a pain in the backside to the authorities and police. Anyway, i could spout on forever, but i am not bothered about anything that goes on in Darlo coz i simply have better things to worry about,and so who cares if they want to build some more flats and a Tescos, etc, in the town.I am more bothered about what i am gonna have for me tea or if i have enough money left for me next packet of tabs, or if me lass is yet again gonna watch the brain dead hour and a half of soaps that on every night and if she is am going to the pub. well aye, anyway, you see where i am coming from and i look forward to going out for a pint and living a life well aye.