Plans for '4,000-job Durham business park' approved

Durham County Council said the new business park would create at least 4,000 jobs

Plans to bulldoze a council headquarters to make way for a business park which it is hoped will create 4,000 jobs, have moved a step closer.

Durham County Council wants to build the park on the current site of County Hall in Aykley Heads.

Concerns had been raised about whether the scheme would meet environmental standards and road safety.

But Durham County Council's planning committee approved the plans and said the park would create jobs.

The application now requires final approval from the government, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The plans include an office block on the site of the former Durham Trinity School and a business park with shops, restaurants, gyms and offices.

Labour councillor Fraser Tinsley, who represents Willington and Hunwick, said: "I think everyone is in agreement that the idea of a business park is welcome.

"We're going to put something at Aykley Heads which is County Durham's opportunity to compete with the likes of Manchester, Cambridge and York.

"This is a positive legacy for the future."

Two members of the nine-strong panel, opposition Liberal Democrat councillors Amanda Hopgood and Mark Wilkes, abstained after their proposal for tougher conditions to be attached to the scheme were rejected.

The plan includes demolishing the old council HQ to make way for the development