Plans to build the world's longest suspension bridge in the North-East have hit an unexpected snag. Teesdale District Council gave the £4.5m River Tees plan the go-ahead last week.

But now Barnard Castle Town Council has expressed serious concerns over the idea and the environmental impact it would have on an area of ancient woodland.

The Town Council is writing to all interested parties expressing its reservations.

Officials fear additions to the plans, which include a woodland adventure park, a circular walk and a car park and visitor centre could impact on the surrounding environment.

Coun Alan Wilkinson said: "We should tell Teesdale District Council that we do not favour the scheme and discourage any further progress on the matter. "This woodland adventure will have people flying about in the tree-tops and on walkways in an area of ancient woodland. It will have a damaging impact on the woods themselves, and also on the Teesdale Way, which is an advertised tourist attraction."

However, other councillors felt it was too early to discourage the whole project.

Coun Eric Fell said: "A lot of information needs to flow under this bridge before we make a decision. It's not for us to say we don't want anything to do with it yet. I think to be fair we need to look at what the other assessments are going to say."

The council agreed to write to Teesdale Marketing, the Market Towns Initiative, the Countryside Agency, Teesdale District Council and Marwood Parish Council saying that it 'expressed serious concerns about the environmental impact the scheme would have' and that it needed 'to be persuaded that any economic benefits will outweigh any such disadvantages'.

However, Bill Oldfield, the chairman of Teesdale Marketing Ltd, the company behind the scheme, welcomed the council's stance, although he disagreed that the adventure park would damage the environment. He said: "This scheme has got to be for the benefit of the area, if it's found that it damages the area, it should be dropped.

"But it should be remembered that no decision have been made yet. We will be carrying out environmental impact assessments.

"However, nobody from the town council has contacted Teesdale Marketing or the consultants directly about this. It makes you wonder what they spend their time on. What I would suggest is they go and visit similar woodland adventures, such as the one at Grisedale, and see the sort of impact they have on the environment. Until they've done that they can't possibly comment on this with authority"

A commercial feasibility study into the bridge scheme revealed it could create 87 jobs in the area. However, the bridge by itself is not viable, and would need the woodland adventure and the visitor centre to support it.