ALMOST 200 people turned out to a public meeting to voice their anger about plans to move a council headquarters to a city centre car park.

Durham County Council wants to build a new County Hall in Durham city, on the car park at The Sands, as part of its plans to leave Aykley Heads to create space for businesses to move in.

The plans have led to public outcry, which prompted Durham’s parish council, which has written to the Secretary of State to ask for the decision to be called in, to hold a meeting to give people a chance to have their say.

Parish councillor Roger Cornwell, who helped put together the council’s formal objection, said: “There’s no opposition to knocking down County Hall but we think The Sands is the wrong place for a replacement.”

The Northern Echo: The designs for Durham County Council's new headquarters on the Sands car park, Durham

The meeting was chaired with the help of St Nicholas’ Community Forum, which is also objecting to the plans after 98 per cent of members said they were against The Sands being used as the new location.

Jane Quilty said; “Everyone has the same comment. This is not the right place for a large scale development.

“We are asking Durham County Council to stop and think and consult. The issues high on our agenda are traffic, air pollution and the impact on the natural and historic environment.”

At the meeting, two motions were passed, one by members of the parish and one by County Durham residents, opposing the choice of the Sands and demanding the county council pauses to explore other options and carry out consultation.

Among those attending was George Pickering, from Durham City Access for All, who raised concerns about access for people with disabilities. He said: “We feel it’s totally the wrong place to put a new civic building. How do you get from Millennium Place if the lift is out of order, as it often is?”

Richard Cowan, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “This isn’t just going to affect residents who live nearby, it’s a county-wide issue.

“I think they’re living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Newton Hall resident Maggie Tallerman said: “Durham County Council claims they want to cut congestion from the city centre but building a northern and western relief road.

“Have they considered the additional congestion they would bring by moving their headquarters into the middle of the city?”

Following the meeting, Sarah Robson, from the council, said: “The choice of the Sands car park location followed an options appraisal that started in 2015 and a robust procurement exercise that has resulted in a proposal that offers the best value for money, reduces our running costs, enables us to adopt new ways of working and brings 1,000 jobs into the city centre.

“The purpose of the consultation process is to enable us to gather feedback from the public and partners on the planning application and we welcome feedback from the parish council and all other stakeholders.

“We will, of course, take on board all relevant comments received during the consultation and, where appropriate, make any changes to the application or apply any mitigating measures. These will be laid out in the planning officer’s report.”