PLANNERS, university mandarins and traffic experts were all blasted for 'spoiling the historic city of Durham' by a leading conservationist at a packed public meeting at the weekend.

Secretary of the Durham City Trust Douglas Pocock strongly criticised a number of on-going planning developments, including the decision to destroy the city's boathouse and radical new parking controls.

Dr Pocock, a geologist, then catalogued a series of historic planning 'disasters' which he said had 'tarnished the perfection of Durham.'

He criticised the three-year-old Prince Bishops Shopping Centre which he called the city's 'biggest disaster' and the decision last month to allow developers to replace the boathouse with a 1,000-capacity pub.

He added a number of smaller changes to his criticisms, including the siting of CCTV cameras outside the cathedral and Elvet Bridge, the current 'reinventing' of the ancient Saddler Street and the 'proliferation' of parking controls.

He said that the reflooring of Saddler Street was creating a seamless join from the market place to the peninsular that was out of keeping with its character.

Dr Pocock also turned his attention to the university which he said had created bland buildings like the Elvet Riverside.

But, speaking after the meeting, Dr Pocock said that the Durham Trust welcomed the current construction of the Millennium Building conference centre and theatre that is due to be completed by the end of this year.

Speaking to more than 100 people at Durham University last Saturday he said: "I have spoken on the attractive qualities of the city many times and I have not changed my mind but there has been a host of examples which have contributed to the distinctive erosion of the city.

"That deterioration has been planned...the perfection of our little city has been tarnished."

After the meeting Dr Pocock said the depth of feeling on planning issues in Durham was evident from the petition of 4,000 signatures compiled against the boathouse development.

He said the mood at the meeting had been 'one of sadness.'

Leader of Durham City Council Maurice Crathorne dismissed the criticisms.

He said: "We are used to wild statements from Dr Pocock.

"For example he was proved wrong on the boathouse when an independent report said objections that the new building would be out of keeping in the area were well wide of the mark. He has been proved wrong on many occasions."

l Lib-Dems speak out: Page 14; letters Page 6