THE Local Government Ombudsman will not be taking a action on a council's plans to sell school playing fields.

A complaint was made last month about Darlington Borough Council's plans for the fields at Longfield School.

The council had initially planned to sell the land for development, and the Department for Education agreed the sale because it believed the fields had not been used for ten years.

However, the authority has now learned that the fields have been used in the past decade, which means the sale must go to public consultation before it can proceed.

A ten-week consultation programme is now under way.

However, a council spokesman said: "The ombudsman had received a complaint a couple of weeks before Christmas and wrote to us saying he would not be investigating the matter further."