THERE was a round of applause from relieved residents as plans for 75 new homes near Seaham were rejected.

Bellway Homes had applied for planning permission to build the development on farmland between Seaham and Dalton-le-Dale, adjacent to the Dalton Heights estate.

An application for 135 homes was unanimously rejected by Durham county councillors last year, and a similar application was refused in 1998.

Dozens of residents living near the development site packed into the council chamber, at County Hall, to hear Durham County Council’s planning committee discuss the application, and broke out into rapturous applause as planning permission was refused.

95 letters of objection were submitted during consultation into the plans and Dalton-le-Dale Parish Council and Seaham Town Council also objected.

Among the issues of concern were impact on the character of the area, flooding and drainage, highways, loss of residential amenity, the site was not included in the County Durham Plan, and character of the landscape.

Marion Oliver, from Dalton-le-Dale Parish Council, questioned why the application had been submitted for a greenfield site.

She added: “There is the same information and evidence here as the last two applications.

“It would seem that the councillors are not being credited with the intelligence of their decisions.”

Councillor Bill Moir, from the planning committee, described the application as “an unacceptable incursion into the countryside.”