From cement works to spa eco-village rivalling the best (From The Northern Echo)

From cement works to spa eco-village rivalling the best

9:14am Saturday 9th December 2006

• Print
• Email
• Share

THE world's top mountain bikers could mix with spa bathers at a proposed tourist attraction already dubbed the "Bath of the North".

New plans unveiled yesterday for an eco-village at a redundant cement works site in Weardale, County Durham, include proposals for seven bike tracks which, experts say, will rival the best in the country.

With a network of family trails and World Championship professional courses, leading bike track designers have told the Upper Weardale Task Force that the Eastgate site could become the sport's best centre in England.

A funicular railway, which will carry cyclists from the valley floor to the head of the trails in the cement works' old "tops" area where there will be wind turbines, a narrow-gauge wood-burning railway, a bird-watching gallery, rock park, limestone park, caves and a working quarry. The cycle routes replace a ski training centre, which was dropped from the original layout after worries that artificial snow did not fit into the village's "green" concept.

A hot spa remains at the heart of the project, which will be the only place in the UK combining all five forms of land-based renewable energy - wind, solar, hydro, biomass and geothermal.

The spa, similar to the Roman springs in the city of Bath, Avon, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, has been extended to include a public swimming pool.

New tests have confirmed the suitability of water from underground hot rocks to warm the spa waters as well as providing heating for buildings on the site, including homes, holiday lets, workshops and a hotel.

In the new plans, the number of permanent homes and holiday lets has been reduced from 179 to 99 and designs have been changed to reflect Weardale's traditional style.

Car parking has been reduced because visitors will be encouraged to arrive by train.

The task force believes 350 jobs will be created, replacing the 147 lost when Lafarge Cement closed in 2002 before handing the site over to the task force.

Designer Jim Urwin, from David Lock Associates, in Milton Keynes, is excited at Eastgate's potential.

He said: "It will become the Bath of the North.

"There is something totally exceptional about this. It will put Weardale at the forefront of green technology."

The plans will form the basis of an outline planning application, which could be submitted in early autumn and taken forward by a non-profit making organisation due to be set up soon.

Iain Phillips, chief executive of Wear Valley District Council, said: "We cannot have a sustainable dale on fresh air. This is not about jobs for people outside, this is about jobs for people here."

The plans are on show in the Durham Dales Centre, in Stanhope, until Monday, December 18.

• Print
• Email
• Share