LIBERAL Democrats have launched a campaign to block Darlington College of Technology's move to a new site in the town.

The Darlington branch of the party has circulated a petition to people living near the college in Cleveland Avenue.

Party members plan to expand their campaign to people in the Yarm Road, Lingfield and Eastbourne areas, who live near the site of the proposed college at Morton Park.

The Lib-Dems say that people in the area are concerned about increased traffic if the move goes ahead.

The college, which has 15,000 full and part-time students from across the region and employs 500 staff, unveiled its £27m plans in October, arguing that it needed more space for expansion.

Under the proposals, it would construct a campus which would be ready to begin operating by 2005.

The favoured site, in Yarm Road, is occupied by engineering firm Torrington.

The Cleveland Avenue site, which has been used for education for a century, has been advertised for sale and a planning application lodged with Darlington Borough Council for housing.

Nigel Boddy, a committee member of Darlington's Lib- Dems, said the party hoped people living near the college would object to the application before the closing date on Saturday.

Mr Boddy said there were more central sites available to the college, and it was not in the interests of students to study away from the town centre, with its shops and transport links.

He said a move to Morton Park, on the eastern fringe of the town, would generate more car journeys because many students would be loathe to use public transport. The party does not believe the move is necessary.

Mr Boddy said: "I think the college arguments are fundamentally flawed. This new site has been picked out of a hat and is not user-friendly.

"The college should be more central. It is currently at the hub of a wheel and it is proposing to move to the end of one of the spokes. It is a ludicrous idea."

Sue Campbell, the college's director of external relations, said it had received no approach from the Lib-Dems about the petition but its own consultations had revealed positive feedback to the move.

When the plan was launched, principal Sarah Farley said the college wished to develop a learning park, accommodating centres in partnership with local organisations, but could not do that on the Cleveland Avenue site.