TELEVISION presenter John Grundy will play a part in the refurbishment of a city’s market place.

He will work with a consortium led by the Ryder architectural practice, which is behind a £5.25m revamp of Durham Market Place and surrounding streets.

Mr Grundy, presenter of Grundy’s Wonders and Grundy’s Northern Pride, will lead a design workshop early in the new year. The public will see the consortium’s plans in March.

The project will include changes to street furniture, lights, signs and shop fronts.

Suggestions that statues of the Marquis of Londonderry on horseback and Neptune might be removed were dropped following a public outcry.

Experts will spend £5,000 to discover if the Londonderry statue needs repairing.

Most of the money for the revamp will come from development agency One North- East.

Durham City Vision hopes the Market Place will be used for markets and events.

Work is expected to begin in late summer next year.

Tony Wyatt, from Ryder, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to explore ways of enhancing the public realm in Durham’s heart to make it more attractive and user-friendly, without compromising its historic importance.

“As a public space, it does not really work as well as it might do and we want to make it compare with other public spaces in historic cities across the UK and Europe.”