GUN club members remain cautious, despite a partial victory in their battle to keep their range open.

Owners of the Louisa Centre range, in Stanley, originally said it would close once building work for a new swimming pool began.

Now, Derwentside District Council has said the gun clubs will be able to return after the £4.5m pool is completed, in 18 months' time.

The Consett and Louisa Centre gun clubs will also be allowed to keep their armouries at the sports centre, which will be reduced to half its size during the building work.

But members of gun clubs in the area fear that they will be forced to close by the time the range is reopened and have enlisted the support of Durham North MP Kevan Jones.

The facility is the only dedicated gun range for hire in the North of England.

Consett Gun Club secretary Griff Elliott said the clubs may be forced to close by the Firearms Licensing Authority without regular access to a dedicated gun range.

He said yesterday: "It is certainly more positive now, but this is not really a reprieve.

"I might be being a bit cynical in saying this, but I think this may be a ploy to close it with less fuss. There are six clubs using it at present, but we will be lucky if two very reduced clubs can survive 18 months."

Mr Jones said: "I would challenge Derwentside council and Derwentside Leisure to come clean about their long-term plans on this."

Leader of the council Councillor Alex Watson said that he had received an almost unprecedented response to the issue.

He said he hoped the gun range would reopen and all the gun clubs would survive.

"I have had at least 25 letters, more than a dozen phone calls and a lot of individuals asking me to keep this open, which is a very big reaction," said Coun Watson.

"The problem is we are losing half the space of the centre and we have to make money in the meantime. A judgement had to be made."

Derwentside Leisure, a workers' co-operative, runs the Louisa and Consett Belle Vue centres for the council.