Lawyers say decision on new council HQ in Durham would be 'unlawful'

Durham County Council, which wants to build its new headquarters in Durham city centre, on The Sands car park, responded by saying it had “robust” processes in place.

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Hundreds of people have objected to the chosen spot for the five-storey building, with almost 800 lodged with the authority.

The City of Durham Parish Council, which has made one of the objections and asked the Secretary of State to call in the decision, has now sought legal advice on how to challenge the proposal.

Simon Kelly, from Richard Buxton Solicitors, which is acting on behalf of the parish council, has now written to Durham’s chief executive Terry Collins a 12 page letter outlining reasons why a decision to approve the scheme would be unlawful.

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

An impression of the proposed new Durham County Council HQ

Parish councillor Roger Cornwell, who chairs its planning committee, said: “Our solicitors have advised that such grounds for challenge do indeed exist and set these out in a 12 page letter.

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“As the legal advice received also highlights that to determine the application at present would be unlawful, our planning committee decided unanimously on 4 January that the proper course of action was to submit this letter to the county council. That was done later the same evening.”

Helen Lynch, head of legal and democratic services at Durham County Council, said: “We have received the letter from City of Durham Parish Council and will be considering its contents and will respond in due course.

“As a planning authority, we have very robust processes in place to ensure that all applications are considered fairly, properly and in accordance with the relevant legal requirements.”

The Sands car park in Durham City, the proposed site for Durham County Council's new headquarters Picture: CHRIS BOOTH.

The proposed location of the new civic building is The Sands car park

He added: “The Parish Council hopes Durham County Council will reconsider its proposals for the future location of its HQ and listen to the views of hundreds of residents from across the County and the many businesses who have submitted objections to this planning application.”

The letter to Mr Collins says the decision would be unlawful because some of the statements are inadequate, failing European and national standards, the proposals do not meet national or local plan policies, the consideration of traffic and air quality impacts is inadequate, the alternatives have not been properly considered and the council does not have enough information to properly make a decision.

It had been expected that a Durham County Council planning committee would make a decision on the proposal last year but it is yet to be considered.

The authority wants to build the new civic building to replace the one standing at Aykley Heads, which it wants to demolish to make way for a business park, which it says could create up to 6,000 jobs.