POCKETS of surplus farm land went under the hammer this week, swelling a North-East council's coffers by more than £600,000.

Durham County Council auctioned ten lots of agricultural land and sites previously bought for projects.

In the first auction of its kind to be held in the council chamber at County Hall, in Durham, 202.79 acres were sold for an average of £3,343 per acre.

Senior estates officer Don Hutchinson said: "We were delighted with the level of interest in the auction, particularly as it was the first we have ever held at County Hall, and the income it generated.

"The council chamber was filled to overflowing, probably because there is a shortage of this kind of land at the moment, and the prices paid were in excess of the reserve - in some cases, well over."

Four plots of land totalling 88.48 acres at Escomb, Bishop Auckland, were sold for £300,000 and three plots totalling 43.88 acres at Spennymoor went for £151,000.

Sites at Cragside, Stanley, and Leazes Lane, and St Helen Auckland were sold.

One was later sold after it failed to reach the reserve price.

The plots will continue to be used for agricultural, grazing or equestrian purposes.