CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after councillors backed their fight to preserve a piece of open ground.
Residents in Blackhill, Consett, have applied to Durham County Council to have the Blue Heaps - the site of a three-day battle between Irish immigrants and English steelworkers in 1858 - registered as a village green.
Derwentside District Council's development control committee has given the application its unanimous support to the application.
Another residents' group has lodged a village green application for the Top of the Park, an area of woodland at the top of Consett Park, bought by developer Strathmore Homes last year.
The company has said it does not intend to build on the area, which is protected by a blanket Tree Preservation Order.
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