Council will consider other sites for temporary car park

Residents in one of Durham's most sought-after areas are angry at city council proposals to use The Sands, next to the River Wear, as a car park for two years.

The council suggested the area was used to replace the spaces that will be lost when the Walkergate car park redevelopment starts later this year.

But the plans were formed when Labour controlled the council and residents hoped the Liberal Democrats, who won in May, would halt them.

The council, which is concerned that parking problems are driving shoppers out of Durham, is applying to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for approval of the proposal because the land, owned by the city's Guild of Freemen, may have rights of common over it.

But council leader, Councillor Sue Pitts, said the authority was also looking at two alternative sites to see if they were feasible.

She said the application to Defra was being made because it could take a long time to decide and did not imply The Sands had been settled on. She said if the alternatives could not be developed The Sands would have to be used.

"The 'do nothing' option is not one I would feel responsible with. It would potentially reduce the amount of business in the city and would cause traffic chaos and be potentially dangerous.''

Will Johnson, chairman of the action group Save Our Sands (SOS), said he felt let down by the Liberal Democrats, who, he said, had pledged their opposition to the plan before the election.

He said the group would fight to stop it becoming a car park."We have funds and we will employ a barrister to fight this. We are prepared to take this all the way.''

The city's Labour MP, Gerry Steinberg, a leader of the council in the 1980s, has entered the fray, saying he is supporting the residents.

"The Sands would involve the use of common land and the removal of a green open area within the city, which is extremely valuable and well-used,'' he said.