PLANS for a residential development on the site of a former factory in north Durham have been given the go-ahead.

Derwentside District Council's development control committee has approved the plans by Miller Homes (North East Region) for housing on the site vacated by Nicholson Seals at Hamsterley.

The development will comprise 22 houses and 16 apartments. The houses would take the form of terraced detached and semi-detached properties and would be two and three- storeys high.

Each property would contain three, four or five bedrooms.

Two blocks of apartments are proposed at the eastern side of the site. Both four-storey blocks will contain eight two-bedroomed flats.

Objections were raised over the possibility of an invasion of privacy created by the height of the apartment buildings.

But planning officers said a garage, tree and small landscaped area would separate the objector's property from the apartments, and the positioning of the windows would make the invasion of privacy difficult.

Principal planning officer Fiona Clarke recommended the committee approve the plans. She said the development was well designed and would blend in with the locality.