RESIDENTS living on an upmarket estate are to form their own parish group to protect against over-zealous developers.

People who own homes in and around Wynyard Woods hope that by forming their own parish meeting they will be kept abreast of any planning applications.

Homeowners were approached by Hartlepool Borough councillor Stan Kaiser, who represents the area and is concerned about over-development.

A number of people have expressed an interest and he hopes the first meeting can be set up in a month's time.

He said: "There is new pressure to provide more and wider diversification in this growing site and the boundaries are not as well defined as they might be.

"It is likely, therefore, that residents will be subject to many planning applications of various types within the next year or so.

"It's my opinion that this area will be faced with many issues of a serious nature and residents have a duty to protect the environment in which they live. In particular, they must fight to define village boundaries and protect the wooded area and country park."

He said 100 new houses would be built on the site in the coming year.

However, plans for a residential home were withdrawn after a number of objections were raised and plans for a retail development were turned down.

But Coun Kaiser feared more proposals would follow.

He said councils were obliged to inform the chairman of a parish meeting of any planning applications in the area.

A parish meeting has many of the same powers as a parish council, but does not have democratically elected councillors and needs to meet only once a year, when a chairman must be elected.

Coun Kaiser said: "The great advantage is that once it is established, residents will know what is proposed for their area and they will be better armed to deal with it."