A BATTLE between two local authorities which is believed to have already cost one council £m in legal bills continued at the High Court yesterday.

Durham County and Darlington Borough councils have been locked in a struggle over which should take responsibility for a contaminated former landfill site since the local government reorganisation of 1997.

Durham, which currently owns the site of the former Creebeck waste disposal facility, claims it belongs to Darlington.

It was given leave in July to appeal to the High Court over a judge's decision to make it responsible for Creeback and liable for a £1m interest payment.

Last month, Darlington offered to share responsibility for the site and split the £1m - a move rejected by Durham, which claims the arbitrator had no legal power to award the interest on a £2.2m "transitional payment".

Yesterday, Richard Drabble QC, counsel for Darlington, told the High Court Durham had "magnanimously" bought the Creebeck site out of a sense of "moral responsibility" and argued the purchase had nothing to do with its statutory waste disposal duties.

He said it was effectively surplus land over which Durham continued to be the custodian authority and Darlington could not be landed with any liability.

But Timothy Straker QC, for Durham, insisted the site had been bought as part of Durham's statutory functions and should have been transferred to Darlington along with other liabilities and assets when it became a unitary authority in April 1997.

Councils affected by the local government shake-up were supposed to agree property and liabilities between themselves, but an arbitrator was brought in after Durham and Darlington failed to reach a deal.

Durham was ordered to hand shares in Teesside and Newcastle international airports and Durham County Waste Management Company to Darlington during arbitration.

Its application to appeal against that decision was rejected in July.

A Darlington council spokesman said yesterday that the battle had so far not cost it "a bean" - but estimated that Durham had already forked out almost £m in legal fees, with more to follow.

A spokesman for Durham said it was not appropriate to discuss costs until proceedings were finished.

The hearing before Mr Justice Stanley Burnton continues today. The judge is expected to reserve his decision until a later date.