A MULTI-MILLION pound city centre housing development has run into opposition - before a formal planning application has even been lodged - over claims it will harm one of the region's few World Heritage Sites.

English Heritage is objecting to a planned £20m riverside development at the site of the former Durham Ice Rink, now home to the Kascada ten-pin bowling alley and Meridian health centre.

Developers hope to demolish existing buildings, including the remnants of the eighteenth century Bishop's Mill, and replace them with 99 apartments, a caf bar, riverbank walk and piazza, with underground car parking.

The plans include opening up the existing mill race - currently hidden from view - and incorporating it as a design feature in the building.

The plans, drawn up by Durham-based architects Howarth Litchfield Partnership on behalf of an undisclosed developer, cover a key site linking the Gala Theatre and Clayport Library development and the £30m Walkergate development.

Initial plans for 150 apartments were withdrawn last year and, with a revised planning application likely to be submitted this month, the architects have launched a charm offensive to win support, opening a month-long exhibition of their plans in the Clayport Library.

However, English Heritage says it has 'significant concerns' over the impact of such a large-scale development on the historic cathedral city.

A spokesman said: " We feel that the development of the proposed large single block of apartments, combined with the demolition of Bishop's Mill, would be harmful to the character and appearance of the Durham Conservation Area and to the setting of the World Heritage Site."

However, Jonathan Yates, director of the Howarth Litchfield Partnership, said the Bishop's Mill had been largely demolished in the 1960s. An earlier application for listed status for the Victorian remnants of the building had failed. He added: "Our argument is that this would enhance the area because it is an improvement on what is on the site now."

Planners are expected to hold informal talks with the architects later this month but it is understood they have already expressed their own reservations over the site.