DURHAM County Cricket Club’s urgent appeal for nearly £6m of public money will come as a shock to many people, coming just months before it is due to host its first Ashes Test.

The club has stressed that the money is needed to help secure the future of international cricket at Durham, and assured us that it does not suggest any immediate threat to the Ashes Test.

Nevertheless, it is bound to set alarm bells ringing about the future of one of the region’s greatest sporting success stories.

And at a time when it is facing £200m in spending cuts, and having to make painful decisions about a wide range of public services, the appeal could not have come at a worse time for the county council either.

But despite the obvious economic challenges facing the North-East’s biggest council, it is right that the financial support is given because the cricket club is an iconic symbol of a beautiful county.

It promotes the county in a way that money couldn’t buy and is a vital part of the region’s tourist and cultural appeal.

We do not know the exact details of Durham’s financial challenges but it is clearly a very sticky wicket, and it would be unthinkable for the county to lose its first-class cricket club after all that has been achieved.

We expect the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership to match the county council’s loan of £2.8m when it discusses the appeal on Monday.

But there will have to be complete transparency about how such a huge sum of taxpayers’ money will be repaid in economic conditions which show little sign of improvement.