A WOMEN’S drug and alcohol recovery centre will not not being going ahead in the proposed site on the outskirts of Durham.

Durham County Council’s public health department had been working with The Ministry of Justice to investigate putting the new centre in Brasside.

But a decision has now been made not to site the recovery centre at Low Newton prison’s training centre and the council is investigating other possible locations.

Amanda Healy, the council’s director of public health, said: “We have now completed a feasibility study into the proposal for a women’s drug and alcohol recovery centre at Brasside and, having considered in detail all of the information gathered, we believe that the proposed site would not be the most appropriate location for the centre.

“We remain committed, however, to pursuing the development of a dedicated women’s recovery centre in the county and will now be looking at possible alternative sites.

“We already have three other recovery centres based on the same model but providing services for both men and women at other locations around the county. These centres have been operating successfully for a number of years and we are keen to build on that work.”

The centre would have been aimed at providing vulnerable women with a place to take part in recovery programmes for drug and alcohol addiction and would have operating in a similar way to one at Whinney Hill, in Durham.

A number of Brasside residents have objected to the proposals during a series of consultation events held last summer.