AFTER a mini-airport, three trout fisheries, a mini-dam and wild west water wheel, the people of a remote area of County Durham may have a new feature on their landscape - a 70m ski slope.

Dentist and businessman Les Smith has bought the ski slope for an undisclosed fee from a Willington leisure park for his trout fishery at Knitsley Mill, near Consett.

He has applied to Derwentside District Council to have the slope erected as the centre piece for plans to turn his restaurant and trout fishery into an activities site.

He wants to build a fourth fishing lake, an outdoor pursuits centre, 12 two-bedroom log cabins and a grass air strip for light aircraft which already fly from the site.

His plan is for corporate bodies, schools and other organisations to use the centre as an outdoor activities site that would include the use of a 100-acre wood.

The entrepreneur's company, Knitsley Mill Leisure, has been dogged by protests since Mr Smith created his first trout lake in 1993 by rebuilding a medieval dam on a tributary to the River Wear.

Various environmentalist groups, including the Council for the Protection for Rural England (CPRE) and the Durham Wildlife Trust have argued the picturesque area should be left alone.

The last planning controversy last year centred on a retrospective planning application for a water wheel which the CPRE said was more appropriate for the Wild West. Councillors eventually approved the plan.

The ski slope has been bought from the council-run Spectrum Leisure Complex, in Willington, which has been partly shut as part of £300,000 cutbacks. Skiers in the area protested to Wear Valley District Council against the move.

Mr Smith, who is a dentist in Durham City, was out of the country on holiday yesterday, but his general manager at Knitsley Mill, Jeff Watson, said everyone was excited at the plans.

He said: "It is still early days yet and we are waiting for permission, but it could be a major asset for the area. We plan to write to all the local schools about our centre presuming we get permission."

Derwentside District Council received the outline plans two weeks ago and is to conduct a consultation exercise.