PLANS for a major housing development on a prime site on the edge of a town centre have been approved despite overwhelming objections from local residents.

People living close to Manor Way, Peterlee, unhappy about plans to build 84 homes, raised concerns about the impact on highway safety.

A petition signed by 137 people, 13 letters of objections, as well as one from Easington MP Grahame Morris, were sent to the council.

Councillors had wanted to refuse the application by Durham Villages Regeneration Company (DVRC) for land west of Dene Community School of Technology.

But, at an area planning committee meeting yesterday, they reluctantly agreed to allow the homes after being told they did not have robust planning grounds to reject the application.

Senior planning officer Graham Blakey, recommending approval, said the proposals by DVRC – a venture between the council and Keepmoat – had been revised to include four affordable homes,

He said the authority had also received letters from the headteacher of Dene House Community School and manager of Sunshine Day Nursery supporting the scheme. They said the new wider road access from Yoden Way included in the scheme would provide them with safer access.

Peterlee town councillor Karen Duffy told the meeting the impact of traffic would be severe. She added: “As a ward councillor I see the need for 84 social houses, not 80 private houses and four affordable houses.”

Keepmoat Homes land and partnerships director Ian Prescott, said new access routes would be an improvement on the present arrangement.

He said: “What I would like to emphasise is that Keepmoat as a business, as well as DVRC take safety as a number one issue.”

“All the work we have done and many iterations of this scheme have designed out the safely issues that exist.

“We have worked with school and highway engineers to come up with a safe solution to what is an existing problem.”

Councillor Mark Davinson said: “I think every member on this planning committee would like to see this application go away, because we can see there are existing problems there.

“We can also see that, despite what the schools might think, their problems could be exacerbated by the new houses being built. There is a supermarket being built, as well.

“But unfortunately we don’t have a crystal ball . . . so regrettably we have to accept the professional opinion of our planning and highways officers and solicitor and to approve this application.”

It was approved by eight votes to three.