HOUSEHOLDERS have voiced concerns at plans to open a drugs and alcohol centre in their street.

The centre, which will cost about £55,000 and have a needle exchange, is due to open on the corner of Roseberry Terrace and Palmerston Street, in Consett, in the coming months.

It will be run by charity the North-East Council for Addiction, and the annual £200,000 running costs will be funded by central and local Government and the NHS. The much smaller existing Neca property, in the town centre, will close.

Residents held a meeting with Neca last week to seek assurances that the new centre will not be open late at night, and that addicts will be monitored. They also contacted Derwentside District Council after it emerged that Neca had received planning permission for the clinic two years ago.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "Everyone agrees that there should be something done about drugs, but not on a residential street. There's lots of children here and we want to know they will be safe."

Coordinator of the County Durham Drugs Action Team, David Cliff, said the centre would be used for counselling, as a base for nurses working in the community, training, an information centre, a needle exchange and as a place where addicts can receive prescriptions for substitute drugs.

He said: "There will be a code of conduct for anybody coming here which they must abide to. We have found in the past that people actually welcome us after we've been in a community for a while.

"The other thing is Derwentside has actually fewer heroin users than elsewhere in the county. We want to try and keep it that way."

A spokesman for Derwentside council said the premises received permission for non-residential, community-based work two years ago, and did not need to apply again.