A COUNCIL has been criticised for planning to “import” 22,000 extra people by 2030 – the same number of people currently out of work in its area.

Durham County Council hopes to attract 57,000 more residents by 2030 – well above the 35,000 growth predicted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

At a public inquiry into its 15-year masterplan the County Durham Plan (CDP), John Blundell, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), today (Thursday, October 2) said there was “no need to import” these extra people, when there are 22,000 people unemployed in the county already.

Mr Blundell’s colleague, John Urquhart, piled on the pressure by saying the county’s indigenous population had suffered “for a generation” from job losses.

However, the council also faced criticism from the other direction, with developers saying its plans for 31,400 new homes were too conservative.

Simon Macklin, for the Church Commissioners, said the figure should be higher to achieve the “necessary supply of labour”, while Matthew Good, from the Home Builders Federation, said the number was “perhaps too low”.

Planning inspector Harold Stephens is leading a six-week examination in public of the CDP, which aims to create 30,000 new jobs by 2030 and increase the county’s employment rate from 66 to 73 per cent.

David Usher, for the council, said the CDP was realistic but aspirational, planning not for decline but a positive future for County Durham.

John Ashby, from the Friends of Durham Green Belt – which has drawn up an alternative vision for “moderate growth”, said the CDP was based “not on how many jobs there might be (by 2030) but how many jobs you (the council) wish there might be”.

Mr Usher said the so-called moderate growth strategy would in fact be “taking forward stagnation in the economy”.

The council’s use of statistics was repeatedly challenged, but officers insisted their figures were robust.

The CPRE, which led the criticism, called for the inquiry to be adjourned for the council to do further work, but this call was rejected by Ian Ponter, the authority’s barrister.

After today (Thursday, October 2), the inquiry at Durham County Cricket Ground continues on Tuesday (October 7).