THE owner of the North-East's only top flight ice hockey club has rejected plans to create a new purpose-built multi-million pound arena for the sport.

The Eye Group, a media company headed by former Durham Wasps owner Paul Smith, took total control of the Newcastle Jesters last week.

Since then, rumours purporting to be from sources close to Mr Smith, have claimed he plans to build the two-rink arena, similar to the new National Ice Centre in Nottingham, in or near Durham.

He is also said to have planned to change the Newcastle franchise name back to the Durham Wasps.

Mr Smith, managing director at the Eye Group, said: "All of a sudden we are going to build an ice rink in Durham and call them the Wasps. It's rubbish."

He said he had heard the rumours himself and added they were all untrue. Logistically, it was not viable, as he has bought a Newcastle franchise, not Durham, he said.

"We've bought a Newcastle franchise, we've not bought a Durham franchise. It's not the done thing to lift a franchise from one place to another," he said.

The idea had "never, ever been hinted because it's a million miles from the truth".

A spokeswoman for Durham City Council said no plans for such a scheme had been submitted to them.

Ian Taylor, chairman of the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL) said a move from Newcastle to Durham was unlikely to get approval from the governing body. He said this was partly because of ties between the ISL and the Telewest Arena, which is owned by SMG, also the parent company of the Manchester Evening News Arena.

The only way the ISL was likely to see a team in Durham would be for part of Newcastle's North-East franchise to be sub-contracted, as has happened in Yorkshire, with Sheffield subletting the Leeds area of its coverage.