OPPONENTS of plans to build 90 homes on the outskirts of Darlington are being encouraged to attend a meeting where the development framework underpinning the proposals will be discussed.

Hundreds of people objected to Darlington Borough Council's plans to include a 29-acre site at Muscar House Farm, off Barmpton Lane, in its local development plan Making and Growing Places (MGP).

Some 750 responses were received by the council during the consultation phase of MGP, which sets out dozens of sites for potential housing sites across borough up to 2026.

Of those responses, about 270 were about Muscar House Farm.

Judith Murray, one of the residents behind a campaign in which opponents of the scheme displayed 'No' placards in their windows, said: "This represents over a third of all responses and indicates the strong feelings people have about this proposal.

"Although we realise housing will be required, we feel that the council should be looking to develop brownfield sites and previously built-on sites, prior to greenfield sites such as Muscar House Farm.

"The council has told us that greenfield sites need to be identified, because brownfield sites often have various unknown development costs which make them unviable particularly at times of recession.

"Does that mean that the council is willing to forfeit greenfield sites that the people of Darlington enjoy and use for leisure and recreational purposes, just because it will cost developers more to develop brownfield sites over greenfield sites?"

MGP is on the agenda at a special meeting of the council's place scrutiny committee, at 9.30am, on Thursday (October 2), at the town hall.

A council spokeswoman said: "The issues raised by this group and others will be covered at the scrutiny committee.

"Housing development can often be an emotive issue and we have worked hard to gather views to help feed into this plan.

“Many of the more detailed concerns raised, such as the green infrastructure and flooding concerns, would be tackled at planning stage.”

Mrs Murray added: "This is a public meeting and we would encourage everyone to attend to show this council how strongly we feel about the proposals."

Other concerns raised include potential flooding risk and a lack of access to amenities, with 80 per cent of the site more than 300m from a bus stop.