A CONTROVERSIAL £18m development has been approved in a rural market town despite councillors claiming that they were being “held over a barrel” due to a council’s out-of-date housing policy.

Despite 168 letters of objection and half of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council’s planning committee voting against plans to build 188 properties on farmland at Stokesley Road on the outskirts of Guisborough, the scheme was approved on the casting vote of its chairman.

As the local authority has no five-year housing plan, the secretary of state considers its policies to be obsolete - therefore planning permissions should be granted unless "adverse impacts outweigh benefits".

Committee chairman, Councillor Brian Hogg, thought the borough had only a three year development plan because officers did not understand the direction the Government’s planning policy was taking.

“If we turn it down it will obviously go to appeal and we do not think the secretary of state would refuse it,” he said.

Outline planning permission has already been granted for up to 350 homes nearby on Stokesley Road to create the Galley Hill estate.

Irate local resident, Eddie Lackenby, whose wife has written to the Prime Minister about their objections, said: “The question is, is this absolutely necessary and I think not. So many people in the town are now struggling to sell their houses, they are struggling to even get interest.”

Valerie Halton, councillor for the Hutton ward, added: “We love the place because it’s a small market town and that would be spoiled. We have creeping urbanisation in Guisborough and officers are promoting this.”

Planning committee member, Councillor Brenda Forster, said: “We can tell that the people of Guisborough feel very strongly about this. I know that we are over a barrel. I think it’s all wrong and there must be somewhere else we can build.”

She added: “We have to make a stand against the developers, it’s not right. Guisborough is a market town, we are going to end up without any villages in this area.”

The new estate will comprise of two, three and four bedroomed two-storey properties, of which 28 (15 per cent) will be “affordable” homes, explained Christopher Harrison, a director of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, agent for Bellway Homes.

“This is an £18.6m investment that will create 76 jobs in construction and add £1.5m additional expenditure into the local economy,” he added.