AN MP has called for public consultation over the future use of a city's former ice rink on a prime riverside site.

Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods took soundings from interested citizens outside the now barricaded-off Riverside Rink at the weekend.

It was most recently an indoor bowling alley and private health club, with a swimming pool, until its sudden closure in February.

Ms Blackman-Woods' consultation call follows news last week that development proposals, which included 99 up-market flats, have been rejected by Communities and Local Government Minister Ruth Kelly, following a planning inquiry in July.

The MP said there is now a chance to see what positive benefit can be gained for the people of Durham.

"No one minds development. I think people accept it's going to happen, and if it's a good enough quality, people might go along with it," she said.

"But it needs to fit in with the natural and built environment, and in a site like this, in an historic city, they need to think more about design.

"We've asked the Planning Authority North to come and work with residents to try and get a design idea as to what they want to see here."

Among local residents offering views for potential future use of the site was Dr Soran Reader.

She said: "I have two teenage daughters who had just taken out gym membership at the health club when it closed. We've lost the cinema, the ice rink and now the gym and bowling rink.

"There's not much young people are left to do, other than underage drinking and hanging around making a nuisance of themselves.

"It may sound pious, but we need positive spaces for young people, and this could be one of them."

Durham City Council leader Fraser Reynolds said, having worked at length with the developers, the authority is "disappointed" at the outcome of the inquiry, leaving the building, "almost impossible to develop."