A PARISH council clerk turned detective to overturn a decision by a Government agency rejecting plans to landscape an area of land around a war memorial.

A bid to landscape a patch of derelict and overgrown land surrounding the memorial in Egglescliffe, near Yarm, as a millennium project was refused by One NorthEast.

Its refusal was based on a law dating from the Second World War when all available land including that at Stony Bank was used to grow vegetables for Britain.

When Egglescliffe Parish Council submitted its plans for the land, One NorthEast decreed that allotment land must always be retained for that use.

That was until parish council clerk Helen Rennison went back to the archive records.

After 15 hours of searching, she discovered that the land had been given to the council in 1949 to be converted into a memorial garden.

Parish council vice-chairwoman Councillor Sue Ireland said: "That fact somehow went adrift over the years, but we cannot praise Helen enough. She is really priceless."

Referring to their plans for the land, Coun Ireland said: "We discussed it the other night. We are going to apply for planning permission, to start work on it.

"A lot depends on the stability of the land. We are hoping the land will turn out to be okay.

"We lost one of our councillors recently and would like to put a seat and a tree in a memorial garden for him.

"We have allocated some funding and are seeing if we can get grants.

"We will have to do a bit of ground work. At the moment you could walk past it and not see it there.''

Stony Bank commands a view of the River Tees as it flows around Yarm and across the roofs of the town, which is a conservation zone.

The parish council has reported the clerk's findings to regional development agency One NorthEast, which could not be contacted for comment at the weekend.