Richard Holden A MEMBER of Parliament has spoken out against Durham County Council, claiming his constituency is neglected in its Leisure Plan. Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, has criticised Durham County Council’s £63 million Leisure Plan to cover ‘leisure transformation’ across the County. Areas across County Durham are seeing huge financial boosts to enable them to extend or refurbish existing facilities or to build new ones. However, this only applies to council owned facilities, which has led to criticism from Mr Holden. Mr Holden has also written to the county council following an announcement that Consett Swimming Pool will be closed for a further 12 – months but local schools are still being charged for non-existent swimming lessons.