CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight on to save a woodland from being turned into a housing estate despite an independent inspector giving the regeneration plans his full backing.

Site 44 in Coubly Newham, known to locals as Longridge Wood, is one of several areas across Middlesbrough earmarked for redevelopment.

The town’s council has become the first in the North-East and one of only a handful nationally to have both its core strategy and regeneration plans approved.

Brian Rogers, Planning Inspector, said the landscape and ecological merits of Longridge Wood were of insufficient quality to override the need for a high quality site such as this one.

He judged that Middlesbrough’s Regeneration Development Plan Document met all the necessary legal and statutory requirements.

Chris Hobson, the councillor representing the Marton West ward, said she was passionate about retaining the seven acre site as a family-friendly space.

“We have been fighting for four years and we are not going to stop now,” she said. “There’s no need to build on this piece of land when there are so many other sites across Middlesbrough.”

The council said this week that some tree felling and clearance had been carried out but work had been suspended until the autumn and a security fence had been temporarily removed after listening to the views of local people.

Coun Hobson said that people were infuriated on December 15 last year when bulldozers dug up five cubic metres of land, the maximum legally allowed without a tree felling licence without prior warning.

“Work has stopped not after listening to us but because it is illegal to cut down trees during bird nesting season,” she said.

“The council is having to make financial cuts in every area and not paying for a fence costing £265 a week is one saving.”

Councillor David Budd, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration said the site had been earmarked for housing since the 1970s.

“Our stance has been fully supported in the recent planning inspector’s report which highlights the need for a high quality housing site in the town,” he said.

“Negotiations with Yuill Homes are on-going and we fully expect the site to be developed when the housing market recovers which it inevitably will.”