Eco village plans now include sport and spa (From The Northern Echo)

Eco village plans now include sport and spa

11:23am Thursday 14th December 2006

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

Fresh plans announced for an eco-village being created on a cement works site in Weardale include 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 course designers have told the Upper Weardale Task Force that the Eastgate site could become the sport's best centre in England.

A funicular railway 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 concerns 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 at Bath 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.

Under the new plans, the overall 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 space 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 new plans will form the basis of an outline planning application which could be submitted in early autumn and taken forward by a not-for-profit 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.

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