A LONG-AWAITED replacement for an outdated mental hospital has been approved.

Health bosses have approved the outline business case for the £23m development, which will serve the northern half of County Durham.

It will mean a mental hospital will be built on the outskirts of Durham.

The hospital will replace the County Hospital, in Durham, as well as the Allensford Ward at the Derwent Clinic, in Shotley Bridge.

When primary care trusts in north Durham approved the project in March a cost of £21m was put on the scheme. However that has risen.

The emphasis will be to provide a safe, homely and therapeutic environment for people with mental health problems.

It will provide in-patient beds and out-patient services.

A team, led by the County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust and including representatives from the Derwentside and Durham and Chester-le-Street primary care trusts will be asked to come up with more detailed plans.

Doctors and service-users will also be involved.

Project director Chris Parsons said: "We are delighted that these plans have been approved and can now start work in earnest on the scheme.

"Over the last four years, we have opened superb new facilities in Durham, Sedgefield, Bishop Auckland and Darlington, and have seen first-hand the positive impact these modern, safe and homely hospital environments can have, both on the people who use our services and the staff who care for them.

"We will now build on these achievements and look forward to opening a new hospital in Durham that will be second to none."

The West Park mental hospital serving the southern half of County Durham opened in Darlington this year.