ALMOST 6,500 people have objected to plans to close Seaham's ambulance station in a shake-up to improve response times.

And Seaham Town Council is urging the County Durham and Darlington Health Authority to reject North-East Ambulance Trust proposals.

The trust plans to provide cover from Ryhope, on the outskirts of Sunderland, in a move designed to meet new Government standards on 999 response times, which will require that ambulances reach 75 per cent of emergencies in eight minutes.

Only 43 per cent of emergencies are met within the target time in County Durham.

Residents and town councillors fear that the trust will not be able to cover the area satisfactorily and say the move is about saving money.

In a letter to the health authority, town council clerk Stan Cudlip, said: "We believe that the trust proposals will place residents within our catchment area at much greater risk and at the expense of additional lives being lost."

"The town council believes that parts of Seaham are likely to have a sub-standard form of service which will not meet the new response target times."

He said it "beggars belief and bears no logic'' that ambulances based in the city would provide a better service to Seaham.

If the proposals are approved, the council wants statistics kept on response times in Seaham to see if the service gets better or worse