DEMOLITION is underway at a former sports centre in north Durham.

The mechanical jaws of a giant digger have begun dismantling the now defunct building on Ashdale Road in Consett.

Facilities were moved to the newly opened Consett Leisure Centre in summer and the work is expected to take place over the next few months.

The site will be used to create more athletics and skate boarding facilities for the leisure centre, academy and young people in the town.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said: β€œIt is due to be completed in the New Year and the site will be used for a new grass sports pitch and a synthetic track for Consett Academy and Leisure Centre as well as a new community skate park.”

A formal planning application has also been submitted to bulldoze the Belle Vue Swim Centre nearby.

If approved, demolition work on the 1960s-built swimming pool and car parks would begin in January and is expected to be completed by the end of May.

The new leisure centre has been developed on the Belle Vue site, just off Medomsley Road, where the former Derwentside District Council offices once stood.