Planners to rule on football scheme
A £12M education and leisure complex at Darlington Football Club goes before planners this week.
An outline planning application was put forward to Darlington Council at the end of last year to build a multi-use development on land surrounding the Quakers’ Balfour Webnet Arena at Neasham Road.
The scheme by Darlington Investments, owner of Darlington FC, would include a 100-bed Hilton hotel, a 929sq m office block, three restaurants, a pub and a coffee shop.
A training ground would also be developed at the site for the first team, which currently uses facilities 30 miles north in Chester-le-Street, as well as a football academy for up-and-coming youth players.
This would include three training pitches - one of which would be floodlit all weather - 10 indoor six-a-side pitches and a Darlington FC training building.
A planned educational facility would provide a range of NVQ qualifications which could help bridge key skills gaps on Teesside.
The rental income generated by the development would support the football club, which currently loses money year on year.
The planning application is the second put forward by the company for the site.
Following initial discussions with Darlington Council and a local consultation process, the firm re-submitted amended plans, including the removal of a proposed bowling alley which planners said was a facility that should be provided in the town centre.
The original scheme had also included three restaurants and a pub.
The council had said “these would have been likely to become attractions in their own right, competing directly with those in the town centre”.
The planning committee will meet on Wednesday to consider the scheme
But planning bosses have already recommended that the scheme be given the green light.
