DEVELOPERS are hoping that councillors in Darlington will back plans that could lead to 1,000 new jobs.

Proposals to transform the former Torrington factory site in Yarm Road include a hotel, restaurant, pub and office and industrial space.

Three national companies have agreed contracts subject to planning permission being granted. However, developers fear the proposals could be rejected because part of the application does not conform to planning regulations.

Commercial Development Projects submitted plans to build 67,000sq ft of office and industrial space, a 57-bed hotel, a restaurant and a pub on the 8.05-hectare site last November.

It followed an application three years earlier for a £60m retail park creating up to 500 jobs.

The bid was rejected because officers said the proposals were fundamentally flawed.

West Yorkshire-based Commercial Development Projects cleared the plant, which was closed in 2003, two years ago before submitting new plans.

The company says it has agreed deals with Travelodge, Frankie & Benny’s and Mitchells & Butlers for retail outlets, and had received interest for the industrial sites, but some businesses had decided to locate to sites in Stockton while the plans were not definite.

It hoped the whole site could create at least 1,000 jobs.

The developers will pay £2m for an internal road network and improvements to Yarm Road, including a filter lane and traffic light controlled junction.

Neil McAndrew, of Commercial Development Projects, expected planners would recommend the plans be refused because the site was earmarked for solely industrial use.

He said the retail aspects formed less than ten per cent of the site.

Mr McAndrew added: “Unless we get these uses here, this site could lie empty for years to come. It is not viable to develop the whole site for industrial use and provide the infrastructure.”

Coun Ian Haszeldine, whose ward covers the site, said: “The application needs to be taken on its own merits. It is a previous industrial site and that is the best use for it. However, the sooner we get it used, the better.”

Darlington Borough Council planning officers have recommended that the plans be rejected.

They say the land should be used solely for employment purposes within offices, light industry or warehousing.

The report adds that the applicants had failed to show the need for the 57-bed hotel, the pub or the restaurant.

It says the restaurant frontage would detract from grade-II* listed buildings at factories on the other side of the road and that the design is inappropriate to the area.