A DEVELOPER'S bid for more time on a controversial store scheme at Eaglescliffe has been branded a red herring.

Coun Stephen Smailes was highly sceptical of a request for time to consider the landscaping aspect of a bid to build an Aldi store.

The scheme has attracted massive objections from the community.

Stockton council has already turned down a request to buy the Durham Lane site on which the new store would be built. If it went ahead, the project would involve demolishing the community library and building a replacement between two shops.

Green space in front of the library would also be lost.

At last Friday's planning committee meeting, councillors were recommended to refuse the application from Mowden Park Estates which runs the Orchard Estate shopping centre in Durham Lane.

But the chairman, Coun Mick Stoker, said the developers had asked for more time to consider the landscaping and wanted the matter to be deferred. A revised application would then be submitted.

Coun Smailes said: "This is a red herring. Landscaping does not come into play here, it is the use of the land that is relevant. We should refuse this application today."

Coun Stoker said he had been advised it could be used against the council if the developers were not allowed to address this issue.

It was agreed to defer a decision on the application.

The news came as a blow to the community in Eaglescliffe, which had been told the actual planning application would still have to run its course even though the land sale had been rejected.

Egglescliffe Parish Council has offered to buy the land itself in order to keep it as green space for public use.

Its clerk, Mrs Helen Rennison, said: "I am sure the parish council will be disappointed this matter is still not settled one way or the other."