COUNCILLORS have called for greater involvement in Durham's £29m Millennium City development which sparked a controversial land deal.

They echoed the District Auditor's call for councillors to be better informed and more involved in decision making for the project.

The police and the District Auditor have both investigated the deal for a "ransom strip" of land behind The Northern Echo's office, in Claypath, that is needed for the development.

The council bought the land for £450,000 from businessman Robert Fulton Senior who bought it a short time before, along with the offices.

The deal involved him acquiring council property valued at £825,000 and paying the council £375,000.

Critics of the deal claim the council could have sold the property for far more on the open market, and that the authority could have bought the land for far less if it had gone for it earlier.

Both inquiries revealed no wrongdoing, but the District Auditor criticised the council's handling of the deal, and recommended it improve procedures.

Chief executive Colin Shearsmith told the Labour-run council's scrutiny committee that the council could not buy the land earlier than it did, because it did not then have Millennium Commission funding, and could not commit any of its own money.

He said the previous owners, British Gas, would not talk to the council about an agreement to buy in future.

And he denied a suggestion he may have "tipped off" Mr Fulton about the council's interest when he asked if he was going to buy the land.

Referring to the council's public exhibition about the scheme, at which he said the land was identified as possibly being needed, he said: "I didn't need to. It was in the public domain."

He said alternative land, the neighbouring Kwik Fit centre, would have cost £1.5m and could not be bought.

Other options, including obtaining a compulsory purchase order, were not practicable.

Liberal Democrat councillor Grenville Holland said: "I would like to echo the District Auditor's concern that members should have been very much more involved in this.

"It should ring warnings about the way the council runs things."

Independent Irene Lupton said: "We weren't exactly excluded but we weren't included."

Mr Shearsmith said he backed the adoption of the auditor's recommendations.