A DEVELOPER'S plan to build 56 homes in a former pit village have run into major opposition from residents.

Durham City Council's planning department has received about 70 objections to an application for the building work at West Rainton by the Durham Villages Regeneration Company (DVRC), a company owned by the council and Yorkshire developer Keepmoat.

The bid to build two, three and four-bedroomed homes near Finchale View - once the site of 37 council houses - is the latest scheme in which DVRC builds homes on council-owned land

As well as providing homes, the council gets a share of the profits, which it invests in projects such as a new community centre at Newton Hall, council offices at Meadowfield and a bus-turning circle for schools at Bowburn.

The properties would be sold primarily to first and second-time buyers. DVRC hopes that if it wins planning permission from the council's development control committee later this month, construction will start in September.

The council's Liberal Democrat leader Fraser Reynolds said: "This has been an extremely successful initiative which has enabled us to create more confident, vibrant communities, while providing more and better facilities for the people of the district. I feel sure this will be welcomed in the villages now in line for investment."

But villagers and the parish council are objecting to the development proposal and are hoping that councillors will refuse planning permission.

Their main concern is the impact the development would have on roads and the extra traffic it would generate.

The area's Durham County councillor, Raymond Pye, has written to the city council, saying that The Crescent and Prospect View, the two roads leading to the site, are both narrow and congested.

He also raises concern about the state of Prospect View, which he says can become icy in the winter.

The parish council has expressed its "grave concern'' about the amount of traffic that will be generated and says that The Crescent and Prospect View will need to have parking facilities installed.

In a statement, the council said: "The original site (more than 40 years ago) had a complement of 37 pre-fabricated homes and to propose 56 dwellings on the same site would seem to be overcrowding.''

A city council spokesman said it was too early to say what recommendation planning officers would make to councillors.