COUNCILLORS have been criticised for approving plans to convert a listed building into flats and build on a historic park.

Green campaigners hit out after Middlesbrough Council's planning committee gave conditional permission for Grey Towers House, on the site of the former Poole Hospital, in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, to be turned into 12 flats.

Developer Country & Metropolitan Homes has also been told it can build 74 houses, convert stables into seven homes, and demolish part of the stables, the walled gardens and the grounds.

Jan Arger, from the Council for the Protection of Rural England, said the development would mean parts of the park were lost forever.

"There is a whole string of reasons why it is a bad decision and why we object to it," she said. "We are very unhappy about building on the parkland."

Grey Towers House, the former headquarters of Tees Health, was gifted with the estate to Middlesbrough Council to be used as a sanatorium before the Second World War.

"We would argue that that's part of the identity of that area," said Ms Arger. "We have little of historic value in the area so to lose something else is terrible. The park was given to the people of Middlesbrough. The development will also throw cause a lot more traffic and the road situation around Nunthorpe is not great."

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said the application had been approved after lengthy debate.

"It was felt it was in keeping with the local plan, and would bring benefits to the area, including the restoration of Grey Towers House and the management of historic woodland."