THE chief executive of Durham City Council has announced he is quitting, saying his high-pressure job is making him ill.

Colin Shearsmith is to retire at the end of the year as chief executive of the city council, a post he has held for six years.

Mr Shearsmith, who is on sick leave, said: "I am heartened to know I have taken the council forward during the last six years and pleased to be leaving a sound base for my successor to build upon.

"It has been a privilege to be chief executive of this wonderful city. It is, however, a high-pressure job and there is no question that it is now affecting my health."

Mr Shearsmith oversaw the £30m Millennium City development, which includes the £14m theatre venue.

The council's Liberal Democrat leader, Sue Pitts, said he had transformed the council into a 'modern corporate organisation'.

She said: "His achievement has been the Millennium development with a wonderful theatre to add quality to all our lives. He had the courage to pick up and run with it when the management company failed."

Mr Shearsmith came under intense pressure when he found himself at the centre of a fraud investigation into allegations over a land deal for Millennium City.

After a seven-month inquiry, police announced in 2000 he would not face charges, following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Last week, it was revealed that police are looking at allegations from the former directors of the Entertainment Team (Durham), which ran the city's Gala Theatre. Entertainment Team (Durham), went into liquidation with debts of about £700,000.

The council is looking at plans to set up an executive board to run the loss-making theatre and has pledged to make public the theatre's losses.