A CAMPAIGN has been launched to fight a relief road that could be built through attractive countryside on the fringes of Durham city centre.

Save Our Valley for the City hopes residents and visitors will lend their support and help it to defeat the northern relief road mooted by Durham County Council as a possible solution to some of the city's traffic problems.

Although the council maintains 'there is no plan' the road features in the Vision 2020 consultation on future development in the city.

The route would run from the A690 near Belmont, passing the Kepier House monument and the Crook Hall medieval manor house and coming out either on Framwellgate Peth near the railway bridge or at Aykley Heads.

Opponents fear the scheme will ruin a tranquil valley while doing little to ease congestion and there are concerns that if the road came out on Framwellgate Peth, homes in the Diamond Terrace and Sidegate area might have to be demolished.

Save Our Valley for the City was formed two weeks ago by people in the area and it has already attracted more than 400 signatures against the relief road.

Keith Bell, of Crook Hall, said he was pleased with the support that the campaign had managed to attract and that people were concerned about the road's impact on the environment. He said many people were still unaware of the relief road idea and the possible route it would take.

The group has launched its own website (www.savethevalley.org.uk) on which people can sign the petition.

The group hopes people against the scheme will write to council leader Ken Manton and cabinet member for the environment Bob Pendlebury to voice their concerns.

Mr Bell said: "It is early days. What we intend to do in the short term is make contact with interested parties and generate opposition to this scheme. We want to put information before people through our website. The risk is that people sit around and say nothing and end up with something they don't want."

The City of Durham Trust has already objected to the scheme.

A council spokesman said: "We would reiterate that, at the moment, there is no 'proposed route' or any fixed line for a relief road. Whatever currently exists amounts to no more than a basic concept or principle."

He added that when a possible route or routes were firmed up there would be full consultation and detailed assessments could be carried out. "The whole process, if it goes ahead, could take ten to 15 years," he said.