RESIDENTS have taken their first steps to protect a village “at significant risk” of being absorbed into a town suburb by forming a neighbourhood action group.

Contentious proposals to build a community of more than 1,520 homes on the outskirts of Darlington would create a new border for the villages of Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent, which are currently surrounded by farmland.

Around 1,700 residents living in the West End of Darlington were informed of the would-be Coniscliffe Park site in November last year with the development still in consultation stages.

However, members of Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent Parish Council have created an action group in response to a further two planning applications that would add 48 houses to the village’s entrance.

An action group spokesman said: “These potential developments will, in effect, allow Low Coniscliffe to be subsumed by Darlington.

“Its independence as a small rural village will simply disappear and never return, making it just another suburb of the town.”

He added: “Low Coniscliffe is a small rural village on the western outskirts of Darlington which is constructed in a linear style, consisting of ninety-two homes, which are an eclectic mix of listed buildings, houses, cottages, and bungalows.

“It’s a small village with history spanning over hundreds of years and a unique and distinctive character of cobble stone buildings and walls.

“One application is for 34 Georgian-style properties on the eastern flank and the second for 14 houses on the western flank of the entrance lane.

“Together, these exceed a fifty per cent increase in the size of the village and will result in the destruction of the entrance by the removal of the hedgerows to make way for two new access roads to the developments.”

Around 62 objection letters have been submitted to Darlington Borough Council over the planning application to bring 34 homes to the area.

However, Taylor Wimpey and Gladman, the developers behind the potential 1,520 Coniscliffe Park, have promised the site would bring a new primary school, shop and sports pitch facilities to the villages near the River Tees.

Up to 20 per cent of the development is proposed to become affordable housing, alongside a range of two to five bedroomed homes being built on the site which would be accessed via Staindrop Road and Coniscliffe Road.

In a consultation letter sent to residents, a Taylor Wimpey and Gladman spokesman said: “Over the past few months, Taylor Wimpey and Gladman have been undertaking pre-application discussions with the council and various stakeholders to prepare and inform a single comprehensive masterplan for the two sites.

“From this work, it is proposed there will be two outline planning applications – one by Taylor Wimpey and one by Gladman Developments – which will seek to agree the principle of the development and details of vehicular access to the site.

“We always try to keep local communities informed as we prepare and make our planning applications and we welcome any comments that you may have on our proposals at this stage.”

The Northern Echo understand the Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent action group are in consultation with Taylor Wimpey and Gladman ahead of a planning application being formally submitted.