Sporting Plan For Business Estate

A BUSINESS park could become home to a multi-millionpound sports village if plans for a 3,000-seat ice arena are approved. Talks are under way to build an Olympic-sized ice rink, restaurants, shops and cafes, at Belmont Business Park, near Durham City. With the estate boasting New Ferens Park football ground and the Soccarena training centre, Richard Endean, from the County Durham Ice Foundation (CDIF), said: “It would be a bit of a sports village. “It would be really good for Durham to have all of it in one place.” Durham has been without a permanent ice rink since the Walkergate rink closed in 1996. CDIF has been calling for a replacement since 2002. Last week, it was revealed that a group, understood to be a consortium of North-East business interests, is planning to develop the former LG Philips site. Last night, Mr Endean said a planning application could be filed within two months. He said: “It’s quite an exciting time. The reaction we got last week was amazing.” Mr Endean said the complex would be based on the Xscape facility, in Castleford, but tried to calm fears that shoppers would be attracted away from Durham city centre, saying only sports shops would be built. Mr Endean said the rink would lead to the formation of an ice hockey team, bringing back to Durham a sport it was well-known for during the Durham Wasps’ heyday of the Eighties and Nineties. Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said the announcement was “great news”. She said: “I am pleased that my suggestion of Belmont as a possible site for a new ice rink has ultimately been successful. “One of my key campaigns has been to try to get more facilities for young people in our city and a new ice rink is part of that effort. “But not only that; having more and better leisure facilities is key to local sport and tourism, and the new site should create more jobs too. “I hope the local councils move quickly to look at and approve this new sporting facility and I look forward to its opening in due course.” It is thought the project could create up to 200 jobs and could be open by autumn next year. Article originally featured on www.thenorthernecho.co.uk