A HIGH Court judge said a multi-million pound fall-out between two North-East councils was not a "straightforward matter".

Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council have been involved in a battle over money caused by local government reorganisation six years ago.

The case, in which shares worth £13.5m in the area's two airports and a waste management company are at stake, was only expected to have lasted two-and-a-half hours at London's High Court yesterday.

But, after Durham's barrister, Timothy Straker QC, had spent four hours on his feet, Mr Justice Blackburne adjourned the case until today.

The county council objects to having to give shares in the two international airports and a waste management company, worth £13.5m, to its smaller sister authority.

It also wants to rid itself of the Creebeck former waste landfill site, in the Neasham Road area of Darlington, which it said was in Darlington's administrative area and should be the borough council's responsibility.

The county council lost those arguments before an independent arbitrator but has launched a High Court appeal against the decisions, saying they were "plainly wrong" and based on a misinterpretation of the regulations.

The county council is also challenging another arbitrator's decision to award Darlington £1m in interest on a £2.2m "transitional payment" it was ordered to make to the smaller authority.

It is asking Mr Justice Blackburne to grant leave to appeal against the decisions by the arbitrators but Darlington Borough Council is contesting it, saying that the arbitrators' decisions cannot be faulted and it is Durham which is misinterpreting the law.