RESIDENTS celebrated after achieving in a matter of days what local authorities had refused to do for nearly 100 years - resurface their street.

Homeowners in Temple Gardens, Templetown, Consett, became so sick of petitioning Durham County Council to adopt their private street that they clubbed together and raised the £2,500 needed to pay a contractor.

Resident Billy Geoghegan, who has lived in the street for more than 30 years, said: "It has been a long struggle, but we have got there in the end.

"The road was terrible. There were pot holes all over the place - you couldn't drive down it without damaging your car.

"I remember my mother and father trying to get this sorted out, and they said it had been going on for a long time, so it could be that people have been trying since the homes were first built."

The street of 30-plus homes - Temple Gardens, and the other side of the street, Alwin Gardens - was built about the time of the First World War.

A spokesman for Durham council said the authority considered adopting private roads only if they met required standards, including materials and methods of construction, drainage, kerbing and lighting. He said: "In 1999, we estimated that it would cost £40,000 to bring this street up to the standard required for adoption.

"If that sort of expenditure has not been incurred in the current works, it is unlikely that the required standards have been met."