A FAMILY has lodged a planning application to build a new housing estate on the edge of a village.

An application has been submitted to Durham County Council asking for outline planning permission to build up to 66 houses on a site in Esh Winning, near Durham.

The application has been submitted on behalf of Barry, Billy and Gillian Finley, who want to build homes on a plot of land they own next to Castlefields in the village.

The 2.4-hectare field, bordered by Castlefields and South Terrace, is currently used as grazing land.

Although final details of the scheme are yet to be decided, the outline application says the scheme would include a range of houses between two and five bedrooms, including both semi-detached and larger detached properties.

All the houses on the site would be two-storey and “traditional in style and form” with “a rural edge and suburban character feel”. There would be some provision of affordable housing on the site, although the exact numbers are yet to be agreed with the council.

The application says that access to the site would be created by extending the existing road through Castlefields and onto the B6302, which runs through the village, with measures in place to protect nearby woodland from the impact of development.

A date has yet been set for the application to be considered by the council.