PARENTS have vowed to fight plans to close a flagship day centre for adults with learning difficulties.

Durham County Council has revealed that the Durham Centre, at Aykley Heads in Durham City, which is used by about 100 people, will shut in the next two or three years.

The centre is one of six in the county facing the axe to comply with a Government order that people with learning difficulties should be better integrated in their own communities and be offered more opportunities, including the chance of employment.

The Labour-run council says that statutory guidance based on a White Paper called Valuing People requires it to shut its larger day centres and plan instead to provide better services more locally.

The centre, built in 1963, provides activities and trips for adults, including some who are physically disabled - from the age of 18 to 65.

Its Parent and Friends Association chairman Tom Scott, 75, of Durham, whose 37-year-old son Philip attends the centre, said it was regarded as the flagship of Durham County Care.

"It isn't by any stretch of the imagination an institution," he said.

"It is a place where everyone is well cared for and enjoys the many activities on offer.''

The association, which will be campaigning to keep the centre open, believes the Government has got it wrong.

Ann and Ronnie Skippon, of Framwellgate Moor, are worried that their Downs Syndrome son Darren, 37, will not get insulin injections for his diabetes if he is moved to another, smaller community-based venue because their nurse will only go to the centre. Joan Meek, also of Framwellgate Moor, whose daughter Linda, 35, is handicapped, said: "They have all the equipment there and the staff are great.

"If this closure does happen, quite a few of the people who go there will get very upset.''

Consultations have already started about the closure of a centre at Annfield Plain.

Centres at Peterlee, Newton Aycliffe, Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor also face the axe within the next six or seven years.

A county council spokes-man said: "We have been involved in lengthy consultations with parents and user groups. We are following Government recommendations and the end result will be highly enhanced services for people who use the centre, which will provide them with a much more active role in their local communities.''