Council throws out Tesco scheme

In what has been hailed "a great day for the town", Darlington Borough Council last night threw out plans to construct a Tesco hypermarket and 130 flats in the town centre. It was also agreed that any future supermarket plans for that area of town would meet with a similar response. Last night, councillors and anti-Tesco campaigners said the town should look to the future and work towards redeveloping the Feethams site for the benefit of the community.
Council leader John Williams said: "We don't want to go through this again, the consultation was very clear and the people have spoken in that regard. "This has also identified the high regard the public has for our markets and the historic town centre. It's my view that even if we received a planning application for a large supermarket on the periphery of the town centre or on the other side of the ring-road, that would not be appropriate."