THREE new housing estates for north-west Durham will not have play areas - but cash set aside for them will go towards new parks.

Derwentside District Council's development control committee approved plans for 245 new homes in Consett and Stanley.

Under the planning laws, builders can choose not to create play areas for large developments and can instead pay the local authority a commuted sum. In this case, it will total more than £58,200.

A recent inspection by the Audit Commission criticised play area provision in the district but Mike Clark, the council's general manager, said the authority was now making some progress.

He said: "The idea of the commuted sums is that it all goes into a central pot, to administer community play areas and parks throughout the district."

He said the authority was working on a £90,000 scheme to provide three new parks in Consett and Stanley.

The council is also heading ambitious plans to regenerate View Lane Park in Stanley.

The developments approved include an estate of 121 homes on land to the east of the former Consett Engineering Works, Park Road, Blackhill, Consett.

The old engineering building will be demolished to make way for a mix of three and four bedroom, detached and semi-detached homes, plus some town houses. An access road will be built off Genesis Way.

The development is part of Project Genesis, which aims to rejuvenate the dead industrial heart of the town.

The western end of the site is earmarked entirely for housing, while the eastern end, formerly the steelworks, is scheduled to be redeveloped as a commercial centre.

Barratt Newcastle also won approval for 97 houses just to the south of Lambton Avenue, Delves Lane, near Consett.

And Lancing Homes has planning permission for 27 homes on the site of the old school in Catchgate, near Stanley.

At the same time, more than 130 council homes will be demolished, mostly in Moorside, Consett.

Sixteen properties in The Bungalows will go, along with 50 in Devon Crescent and a further 62 in Dorset Crescent.

Two homes will be demolished in Derwent Crescent, Leadgate.

In Tantobie, near Stanley, four will be pulled down in Woodside Grove and another four demolished in Palm Terrace