A COUNCIL has vowed to keep a close watch on an ambulance shake-up to see that it delivers promised improvements in emergency response times.

Seaham Town Council and about 6,500 people in the area, opposed plans by the North-East Ambulance Trust to close the ambulance station at Dawdon and serve the area from Ryhope, on the outskirts of Sunderland, instead.

Despite their opposition, the plan has won approval from the County Durham and Darlington Health Authority.

Now the town council says it will monitor the service to see if it does lead to a better service for people in the Seaham area.

The trust, which serves County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, is making changes to help it meet tough new 999 response time targets ordered by the Government.

These will require that ambulances reach 75 per cent of emergencies in eight minutes. Currently, only 43 per cent of emergencies are met within the target time in County Durham.

The trust says that merging Seaham and Ryhope ambulance stations will help it achieve the new standards.

But residents and town councillors fear that cover will worsen, and that ambulances will concentrate on Sunderland.

Town council clerk Stan Cudlip said: "We are bitterly disappointed here at the decision. We had in excess of 6,000 residents in the Seaham and Murton catchment area supporting the idea of keeping the ambulance station at Dawdon.

"We believe it will be a retrograde step and will lead to a loss of service if the provision is merged and based at Ryhope.

"It will be more costly for the trust and there will be a greater chance that ambulances will be drawn into the larger conurbation of Wearside.

"They have assured us they will provide us with statistics to show how the service is improving.''

The trust says that ambulances and paramedics on motorbikes, sited at various points around the area, will improve accessibility and response times.

Mr Cudlip added: "All we can say is that we hope that the trust's forecast is correct. We intend to monitor the situation very closely to make sure residents are not adversely affected.