A WOODEN seat made for a bus shelter on Teessway, has been removed by Darlington Borough Council workmen, Monday's meeting was told.

Chairman Councillor John Weighell said the seat, made by him and two other villagers, had been replaced as part of a scheme to install solar-powered lighting in bus shelters. "It was our property and they had no right to take it away," he said.

John Buxton, Darlington council's director of development and environment, has replied to Simon Bailes about the alleged disruption caused by the chicane outside his home, saying the scheme was the best achievable with the money available.

Neasham was runner-up for the BBC Radio Newcastle Trophy for the best small village in the Northumbria in Bloom competition and equal third in the Durham County Tidy Village Competition.

It was decided to object to an application to demolish a greenhouse at Neasham Hill House because it might be replaced with an unsuitable structure.

* Full report in tomorrow's Darlington & Stockton Times.