FEARS that a youth shelter will be used by youngsters to drink alcohol and take drugs, may block the project.

Members of Dean Bank Residents' Association, in Ferryhill, attended a public consultation meeting on Tuesday to express their concerns about proposals for a dome-shaped youth shelter.

If the scheme is approved, the shelter, an open, steel structure of a similar size to a bus shelter, would be installed on wasteland to the rear of Kelvin Street, in a residential area of the town.

The shelter is a joint project between Sedgefield Borough Council and Ferryhill Town Council, aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour among young people.

Margaret Seymour, chairman of the residents' association, said that people in the area fear the shelter would add to the local drug problem.

"It is too near to the houses. The lads gather there now to drink and whatever else they do, and we don't want to encourage them by putting a shelter there," she said.

"We have enough problems in Dean Bank with drugs and we don't want this shelter to be dominated by this minority.

"There are good kids in Dean Bank, and we agree with the council that there isn't enough around here for them, but we don't think building this shelter is an answer to the problem."

She said local people thought it would be more appropriate for the shelter to be situated near recreational ground, and they would like to see more organised activities and a proper youth club.

Jamie Corrigan, chief executive of Ferryhill Town Council, said that while youth shelters had been successful elsewhere in Ferryhill, without local support it would be difficult to proceed.

"The consensus at the meeting was that it would not reduce anti-social behaviour, and that it would in fact add to it. So it would seem, that while other areas will benefit from a shelter, Dean Bank won't.

"The strength of feeling from the adults at the meeting against the shelter means it is difficult to find a middle ground and it has to be a partnership approach."