ONE of County Durham's most historic teaching institutions is set for a dramatic overhaul.

The Catholic priests training centre, Ushaw College, located on the outskirts of Durham City, has been struggling to survive for a while, due to falling numbers of students and shortage of cash.

But this week a plan to sell off part of the grounds for a new hotel and 18-hole golf course have been approved by councillors.

If a sale goes ahead it would enable senior priests to improve facilities at the 196-year-old training centre.

The priests will use the planning permission, granted by Derwentside District Council last week, as a marketing tool to inform potential buyers what work would be acceptable in the Grade III listed buildings.

The Catholic Church has struggled to keep the training college fully operational as numbers of students attending has fallen steadily over the years. The college was designed for about 400 students and trainee priests but numbers have dwindled to about 40 at the present time.

President at the college, Father Jim O'Keefe, said the decision was 'tremendous news.'

He said: "We have spent almost a year putting this together.

"We have had to do a lot of work, including checking for ancient burial sites, so to get this decision was very good news.

"Basically we have massive potential here and this should enable us to achieve that. Money we receive will go towards improving facilities and living conditions.

"It will really help us to achieve what we want to do here."

The Junior House building at the college, used to teach Catholic students until 1972 and unused since 1995, would be turned into a 40-bedroom hotel if a buyer is found.

The golf course would be constructed over the site of a previous nine-hole course that has not been used since the Fifties.

As well as the 40 trainee priests about 600 other Catholics from across the north of England take courses in a variety of subjects every year. A further 20,000 use the college annually for conferences and other activities not established by the church.

The area covered by the planning brief comprises 142 hectares of land, with the college land to be kept for teaching covering 13.7 hectares