A COMMUNITY stalwart says he is leaving his home after deciding that "Stockton is no place for the disabled".

Mr John Basterfield, who is registered blind, says he has been driven to extreme action because his home village of Norton is "just not suitable for me now."

The last straw came with the installation of cobbles along Norton high street which Mr Basterfield says are a danger to the disabled and visually-impaired. He now plans to live in Darlington.

His decision has been met with despair by other community workers.

Mrs Jennifer Pinder, who helped form a group to tidy up the village, said: "John is a pillar of the community and does such a lot of good work. It would be a shame if Norton lost a resident such as him."

Ward Coun Steve Nelson disagreed there was a safety problem with the cobbles, but said a draft plan for Norton was due out soon which could address such issues.

Mr Basterfield said the materials used for the cobbled surface were unsuitable for their position. He said the stones were far too big and protruded too much from the ground.

"They rise some inches from the ground making walking difficult for visually-impaired or disabled people," said Mr Basterfield, who lives in a cottage near the cobbles.

"You surely can expect to be able to walk outside your own home."

The cobbles were laid as part of parking improvement work. Mr Basterfield said none of the residents thought to ask what kind of materials were being used. "By the time the work had been done it was too late," he said.

He contacted Stockton council and was told the cobbles were aesthetically pleasing. "It looks as though nothing will be done about changing them," he said.

"This village is just not suitable for me now and so I plan to go and live in Darlington. Stockton is not a place for the disabled.

"I came back here in 1993 after living away and now I wish I had never come back."

Coun Nelson said there had been many complaints about parking around Norton high street.

"There were a lot of near-miss accidents and our engineers were asked to look at the situation," he said. It was decided to extend the pavement and as part of that a parking scheme was drawn up. It was chaotic before and now it is orderly.

"The cobbles were designed to stop cars going on to the pavement as that was another cause for concern.

"The first draft of a Norton centre plan is due out soon and that should cover all angles concerning the high street and there is no reason why we can't look at problems such as this. Nothing is ruled out.

"But there is more than enough room between the shop and the cobbles for people to get past. I can't see why anyone would need to walk over the cobbles. I don't think there is a safety problem with this but we could look into it as part of the draft plan