COUNCILLORS have rejected an application from Derwentside residents to protect an open space from development.

Durham County councillors yesterday agreed that land, known locally as the Blue Heaps, in Consett, should not be registered as a village green.

It follows a three-year campaign by a group called Friends of the Blue Heaps to ensure the site, near Blackhill and Consett Park, is not used as a development site for housing.

Last year, Durham County Council made a u-turn on its decision to grant similar status to a nearby site, known locally as the Top of the Park.

It announced it would not oppose a judicial review brought by Strathmore Homes, which owns both plots of land, after it decided to change its status.

The licensing, registration and purposes general committee voted yesterday in favour of a report by the council's deputy director of corporate service, Lesley Davies, advising them to reject the application.

It was submitted in January 2003 by Helen Steadman, of Aynsley Terrace, Consett.

Her argument was accompanied by a number of witness statements, claiming it was used for activities such as picnics, ball games, dog-walking and other sports and pastimes.

Objections to the application were received from Strathmore Holdings and Ian Riddell, also of Aynsley Terrace, Consett.

The committee appointed an inspector to hold a public inquiry to provide a report for the committee.

The report said: "There has been some, but insufficient, use by local inhabitants for local sports and pastimes for a 20-year period continuing to the date of application.

"The Blue Heaps application would probably fail for a further simple reason, namely that the use is not still continuing to a sufficient intensity today."

The inspector recommended the application be refused.

Strathmore Homes bought the land from Derwentside College in 2002 and has already started work on part of the Top of the Park site.

Alex Johnston, the company's director, said council tax payers should not pick up the bill for the lengthy legal row, which he claimed could top £100,000.

A council spokesman has previously refused to comment on how much it had spent in legal costs on the matter.