DURHAM residents hope to thwart controversial plans to use common land at The Sands as a temporary car park.

A public inquiry will be held next week into Durham City Council's proposals to use part of the site for parking while the Walkergate car park is redeveloped.

The council has already given itself planning permission but it now has to win approval from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) because it is common land.

The Save Our Sands action group and City of Durham Trust hope to persuade inquiry inspector David Tester to reject the scheme.

The Walkergate redevelopment, linked to the city's Millennium complex, will include a 500-place multi-storey car park.

But, until it is completed, 350 spaces will be lost and traders are concerned that parking problems could drive shoppers away from the city.

The council wants to put 165 spaces on The Sands for up to two years. Originally the plan was for 340 spaces but about 160 will be on the site of the former post office building, in Providence Row, a scheme which has won planning permission.

The council said it had tried to find alternative sites but none has proved suitable.

It said the revised scheme with fewer places on The Sands was an "acceptable alternative'' that would still allow the site to be used for recreation.

David Williams, secretary of Save Our Sands, said the group would object under a section of the Property Act on the grounds that the development would not benefit the neighbourhood.

"The land belongs to the people of the city and we are defending it from intrusion.''

Roger Cornwell, chairman of the City of Durham Trust, said the proposed car park would mainly benefit commuters. He said: "By no stretch of the imagination can people who drive in to work be from that neighbourhood.''

The city's MP, Gerry Steinberg, is also opposed to The Sands plan. The inquiry will be held in the Gala Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Walkergate development will also include flats, a hotel and bars