CAMPAIGNERS spoke of their disappointment after a controversial housing plan on the outskirts of Durham City was given the go-ahead last night.

Outline permission to develop the two-acre site of the Cock O' the North pub/restaurant, on the A167, at Farewell Hall, Durham, was given to Shepherd Homes in September last year.

The 1938-built premises, prominent on the southern approach to the city on the old Great North Road, was knocked down earlier this year.

An application to create 25 flats in a four-storey apartment block, and a mixture of 19 two and three-storey town houses on the site was rejected by Durham City Council in June.

Councillors agreed with residents and the City of Durham Trust over the density of housing and the planned felling of trees on the attractive approach to Durham.

Shepherd Homes was asked to go back to the drawing board and last night won planning permission for 25 apartments, 15 detached and two semi-detached houses.

It angered protestors, who have been campaigning to halt the over-development of the site.

Company director Maurice Raine, 47, of Cedar Drive, Fairwell Hall, Durham, said: "It is about the visual impact for the city of Durham and it is a conservation area where the trees and greenery are starting to disappear.

"It was the wrong decision because the council has not been demanding enough. The developer has only done what he has to."

Housewife Linda Boggan, 60, of Blaidwood Drive, Fairwell Hall, Durham, said: "I am disappointed about the approval the apartment development has been given. It is far too tall.

"Everyone I speak to has been appalled that every piece of land we have is being built on."

The principal alterations to the scheme are on the South Road elevation, where the three-storey town houses have been removed, with houses now proposed on that part of the site facing inwards.

The boundary is to be landscaped with trees and hedges to maintain the green character of the Durham approach.

Darren Blake, architect of ID Partnerships, spoke for Shepherd Homes at the meeting in Durham Town Hall.

He said: "We think the revised proposal shows that the client is prepared to work with the planners and the public."