A PARISH Council is prepared to fight developers all the way to prevent more than 250 houses being built in a village.

Two separate applications for 200 and 69 houses to be built in Middleton St George will be considered by Darlington Borough Council’s planning committee this week.

The applications, affecting land off High Stell and east of Middleton Lane, have been recommended for refusal by council planning officers and have attracted hundreds of objections from existing residents.

Chair of the village parish council, Doris Jones, said that even if the planning committee does refuse the applications, she is anticipating that an appeal will be lodged by the developers.

This happened with a previous application by Gladman developers whose 250-home proposal was refused by Darlington Borough Council but was later allowed on appeal.

Cllr Jones said that the parish council has a consultant working on its behalf and is determined to do all it can to prevent any more houses being added to the sprawling village.

She said: “We just don’t have the infrastructure within the village in order to cope with any more houses.

“The infrastructure is so old; it is still designed for a small village but over the years we have grown into the size of a small town with a population of 5,000.

“These extra houses have come with no major improvements to the infrastructure to cope with it.”

Cllr Jones pointed out specific problems that she believes would arise from an extra 269 houses in Middleton St George.

These include an unacceptable increase in traffic – particularly around school opening and closing times – the extra burden on a sewage system that is already struggling to cope, and a lack of essential facilities such as education and health services for any new residents.

“We have got our consultant and we as a parish council are working very hard in preparation for any appeal that might be lodged,” said Cllr Jones.

“At the end of the day there isn’t anybody in this village, not a single person I have spoken to who has said ‘this is a great idea’.

“It is a crazy idea and we will put all our weight behind opposing it and do all we can to stop it.”

Darlington Borough Council’s planning committee will meet at Darlington Town Hall on Wednesday (July 8) to consider the applications.