BUSINESS leaders are calling on the Government to save a beleaguered council masterplan, amid political demands for heads to roll over the “absolute fiasco”.

Last week, Planning Inspector Harold Stephens savaged Durham County Council’s 20-year growth blueprint the County Durham Plan (CDP), calling it flawed, unrealistic and unsound - a verdict that met with joy from green campaigners and residents’ groups, but horror from business leaders.

Today, former Newcastle United chairman and millionaire businessman Sir John Hall staged an urgent summit, calling on the region’s senior businesspeople to rescue the CDP, saying it was about the “resurrection of the North-East”.

The Wynyard Hall owner told a County Hall meeting attended by around 40 senior executives: “We will fight for this region.

“We’ve got to put pressure on the Government to ensure there’s negotiation. It (the CDP) cannot be allowed to die.”

A protest letter to the Planning Inspectorate is now being circulated between the region’s boardrooms.

Mark Dowdall, from The Banks Group, said Durham deserved better and Ebac founder John Elliott said it was ridiculous to accuse a council of being “too ambitious”.

The CDP aims to deliver 30,000 new jobs by 2030, with 31,400 new homes, new retail and employment land and two new bypasses, turning County Durham into an economic powerhouse.

However, later at a full council meeting, Liberal Democrats called on the authority’s Labour leader Simon Henig and Neil Foster, the cabinet member for regeneration, to resign over the issue.

Lib Dem leader Amanda Hopgood called it an “absolute fiasco”, while Mark Wilkes accused Labour councillors of arrogance.

However, Tory leader Richard Bell said calling for resignations was not helpful and councillors needed to work together.

Cllr Henig he wanted to see a “step change” in the county’s economy and was not prepared to manage decline.

Cllr Foster attacked Mr Stephens for not raising his concerns earlier and only being interested in listening to opponents of the CDP, not its supporters; and claimed the council was denied a level playing field at Mr Stephens’ six-week public inquiry, held last autumn.

The council is currently taking legal advice on how to respond and will hold talks with the Planning Inspectorate next month (March).