DURHAM could be reduced to a cathedral and castle surrounded by a housing estate if council plans to tear up the green belt get the go-ahead, an inquiry heard today (Tuesday, October 14).

Durham County Council chiefs say protected countryside must make way for new homes and businesses to reverse the county’s long-standing economic decline.

But Sue Childs, from the Durham City Neighbourhood Planning Forum, told a public inquiry into the authority’s 15-year masterplan the County Durham Plan (CDP) there was no justification for building on green belt land.

“We could be left with a cathedral and castle as a token heritage site, encircled by a large housing site,” she told the CDP examination in public.

She urged planning inspector Harold Stephens, who is leading the six-week inquiry, to protect the green belt and promote its “appropriate use” – to promote health and tourism.

The council wants to slash the green belt around Durham City, allowing 4,000 homes and a major business hub to be built on currently-protected land.

It says it remains committed to the green belt but the county’s economic plight means there are the exceptional circumstances necessary to justify building on parts of it.

Mike Allum, for the authority, said in austerity times public funding could not be relied upon and the county had to respond to “market signals”.

However, Kirsty Thomas, for Friends of Durham Green Belt, said the importance of the countryside to local people could not be overstated and Douglas Pocock, of the City of Durham Trust, said if every authority jumped on economic under-performance as exceptional circumstances, it would mean “open season” for green belt development.

Mr Allum said the council took the heritage and qualities of Durham City very seriously but it was a key asset, out-performing the rest of the county, and the authority must try to take advantage of that.

The council is also proposing to create new green belt in north-west Durham, stretching from Shotley Bridge to Beamish and extending an existing green belt spanning Gateshead and Northumberland.

The inquiry at Durham County Cricket Club is expected to run until Thursday, November 13.