SCORES of jobs could be created at an established business estate if a proposal to expand the site with more industrial and office spaces is approved.

Lingfield Point-based real estate firm FHW Ltd has lodged an application to build 18 starter units of up to 1,500sq ft, and two offices of 4,000sq ft at Faverdale Industrial Estate.

The total floor area of the development would be 26,500sq ft, alongside parking for each of the units, and landscaping across the site, which is part of the Darlington Borough Council’s North Western Growth Zone.

As the estate provides convenient access to the A1(M) via junction 58, it has already attracted a wide variety of businesses, including those involved in the packaging, distribution and transportation sectors.

Agents for FHW said the development on a disused parcel of undeveloped land to south of Faverdale West which has been designated in the current Darlington Development Plan as an employment area.

The site is surrounded by industrial development to the north and east, and immediately to the south is an ongoing application for retail use.

The documents state while there are residential properties about 30 metres to the west of the site, there is already dense planting and trees between the homes and the site.

The application states: “It is not considered that the use of this site for employment purposes will detrimentally impact on the amenity of the area.”

Access to the proposed development would be from Faverdale West and through the existing industrial estate, which remains part of the Strategic Employment Site as part of the emerging Local Plan.

The council has not received any letters of objection or support over the scheme to date. In recent years, the site has seen a plan to build 40 homes there refused. Ahead of plans to build 15 industrial units there in 2010, there several were objections lodged, citing concerns including an increase in traffic, damage to the natural habitat and noise pollution.