PLANS to build a resource centre in an east Durham town may be scrapped following a change of heart by the committee that was overseeing the scheme.

Proposals for the centre, in the middle of Thornley, east Durham, were first drafted in the mid-1990s in response to the lack of facilities for local people.

The village already had a community centre, at its eastern end, but the building was old and dilapidated, and few people wanted to use it.

Following surveys of the village's needs, in which 80 per cent of residents said they wanted a new building, the parish council donated land on the Pit Wheel site.

It was decided that the new centre should be smaller than the old one, and should include changing rooms, showers and a cafe, with the surrounding land being developed for sport and leisure.

The New Thornley Regeneration Group spent £20,000 making preparations for the centre, including obtaining planning permission from Easington District Council.

Now members of the community centre committee, which helped draft the plans, have put the project on hold.

Work on the project has stopped pending the outcome of a survey of the structural condition of the old community centre building.

Councillor Greg Wharrier, secretary of the New Thornley Partnership, said: "A few members of the present community centre committee want a building as large as the present one, despite the fact that surveys have identified that there is not a need and that the present building is not fully utilised. Some members appear to just wish to keep the old one open, no matter what the people in the village require or what cost is incurred to run it.

"If either of these were taken on board, years of work would have been wasted."

Coun Wharrier estimated that it would cost £500,000 to bring the old building up to standard, while a new centre would cost £750,000.

It would be funded by bodies such as Sport England and the National Lottery.

Billy Middleton, treasurer of the community centre committee, said that in recent months, the old building had flourished, attracting more than £10,000 for facilities.

He said: "Everything is going well here, and the new building couldn't take half the things."