A CONTROVERSIAL plan to create a car park behind a pub has been resubmitted, despite objections from one of South Stockton's leading business families.

The original plan to create a 40-place, long-stay car park near the Blue Bell at Eaglescliffe was rejected in July, partly due to worries about traffic safety.

But now the plan has been changed and a new application submitted to Stockton Borough Council, which has promised to create more long-stay car parks after forcing through pay and display parking on the nearby Yarm High Street.

The new plan would see 36 car spaces at the site behind an apartment block at the Blue Bell. An existing storage building, currently used by the Sea Scouts, would be demolished and there would be more landscaping than in the first plan.

A Traffic Impact report said that the car park would generate about 102 movements a day, fewer than the 181 trips per day generated by the previous use of an adjacent site when it operated as a restaurant.

Officers have recommended councillors approve the application at the planning committee meeting on Wednesday, in Stockton Central Library at 1.30pm.

A total of 12 members of the public have objected. The Emadi family, who own the lease for the Blue Bell, as well as owning the Purple Pig and Da Vinci restaurants in Yarm along with other businesses, employing about 50 people, are leading the protests.

Head of the family, Mamad Emadi, said the old restaurant referred to in the council's Traffic Report only had five parking spaces and most movements were in the evening, not at the more dangerous peak time.