CAMPAIGNERS fighting the proposed closure of a community hospital yesterday revealed a legal document they claim will save the building.

County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is consulting residents over the possible closure of South Moor Community Hospital, near Stanley. It wants to transfer services to a new purpose-built health centre planned for Stanley town centre.

Residents fighting to save the site yesterday produced the deeds and covenants on the land, which include a clause stating profits from any sale must go to the community.

Campaigner Garry Reed, 39, of Oak Terrace, Craghead, near Stanley, said: "The deeds clearly show that if the land is sold, the money has to go to the miners' descendants."

Holmside and South Moor Miners' Welfare Fund Hospital opened in 1927.

It cost £29,000 and was built on land gifted by the South Moor Coal Company, eventually being incorporated into the NHS in 1948.

The first covenant, installed in the deeds in 1933, states that, if the hospital is no longer required, it can be sold.

But the profits of any sale must be spent on projects for the good of the local communities.

It states that the cash must be spent "for such purposes, connected with the social wellbeing, recreation and conditions of living of workers in or about the said Holmside and South Moor collieries".

The covenant requires that the sale of the site must be approved by the Charities Commission, which has confirmed it has not been consulted.

It also states that the land cannot be used for the sale or consumption of "intoxicating liquor".

Despite the deeds explicitly stating that the cash from the sale of any buildings on the site had to go back to the community, a document attached shows that the NHS trust sold two of the hospital cottages in March 1983 - and pocketed the money.

A trust spokesman said: "The important thing is to make the right decision about the future of the health services offered to the people of Stanley and Craghead, and the best way to provide them.

"It is only if, after public consultation, that the decision is taken to close South Moor Hospital that the future of the site should be considered."