Work to build Durham County Council's new £50m headquarters is set to begin.

The council will move from its current site on Aykley Heads to a new building on The Sands car park, which will accommodate around 1,000 staff, a council chamber, cafe facility and a new civic square.

Initial work for the new building is expected to start on Monday, August 12 and main construction due to get under way in September. 

Councillor Joy Allen, Cabinet member for transformation, culture and tourism at Durham County Council, said: “The development of the Aykley Heads site presents a once in a generation opportunity to transform the county’s economic prospects, with the development of what will be one of the most attractive business parks in the whole of the North East, and has the full support of the business community.

“The planned development will create thousands of new high-quality jobs and future employment opportunities for our young people, as well as bringing millions of pounds of investment into the county."

The Sands car park will be closed for two years during the construction, with the permanent relocation of the coach park to Belmont Park and Ride.

The new coach park at Belmont Park and Ride on the A690 will be expand and will be operational by the end of September, a temporary coach park will be available until then.

Sidegate car park in the city will change from log stay to short stay for visitors, shoppers and users of the Freeman's Quay Leisure Centre.

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There will be no change for visitors by coach as they will continue to be dropped off and picked up by the coaches at the existing stops at Freeman’s Place in the city centre. And the Cathedral Bus service will continue to pick up visitors outside CoHo on Freeman’s Place.

A temporary footpath will be created to ensure safe pedestrian access is maintained on the road side of the site although access to the riverbank side will be limited until the works are completed.

The work comes after campaigners took to the streets ahead of the council's planning committee making a decision on the application earlier this year.

Thousands of people objected to the application over a range of concerns, including traffic and the negative impact the development could have on the city's World Heritage Site status.

But councillors narrowly voted in favour of the plans by a margin of 8-6.

The local authority says the development will pave the way for a new multi-million pound business district at Aykley Heads, creating 6,000 new jobs and delivering a £400m boost to the county.

It says 250 new jobs will be created through the construction of the building, which is being carried out by Kier Property.