A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build a road across a popular park to improve access to a huge housing estate looks set to be ditched.

Darlington Borough Council’s place scrutiny committee agreed the proposal for Springfield Park, off Salters Lane North, should be dropped from its forthcoming Local Plan, the development blueprint for the borough.

While the authority’s Cabinet will consider ratifying the change to the Local Plan at its meeting next week, the potential consequences of the amendment to the road network across the borough remain unclear.

The scrutiny meeting, which attracted numerous residents who are concerned about the Local Plan, heard officers believed further work was needed to decide if the proposed access road would be necessary for Skerningham garden village.

The development is set to feature 4,500 homes, business premises, shops and leisure facilities on the northern outskirts of Darlington borough.

Whinfield councillor Andy Keir said he did not believe the road through the park, which features a football pitch and a playground, was critical to the garden village scheme.

He said: “Most people would use access roads away from the central relief road rather than a central point to get to their destination.

“This practise would render the central access road through Springfield Park less critical.”

Residents told the meeting the park was used by 7,000 residents and “shouldn’t be touched at all”.

After proposing the proposed road should be abandoned, another Whinfield member, Councillor Jamie Bartch, said the amendment showed the council’s ruling Conservative group was committed to both its manifesto pledges and saving the park for residents.

He said while it was not the only green space in the area, Springfield Park offered “a lot more open space, and that needs to be protected.”

Following the meeting, the council’s former economy and regeneration boss, Councillor Chris McEwan, said Labour candidates in the Whinfield ward had also wanted to save Springfield Park.

He said: “I am very clear that in my previous role I questioned the need for a road through Springfield Park.

“I think it is critical that we protect that green space not just for the residents of Whinfield, but also for the people of Harrowgate Hill and Haughton and Springfield.

“It will be interesting to see how this impacts on the Local Plan more generally.”