PLANNING permission has been sought to keep Bishop Auckland's Asda store open 24 hours a day.

In order to undertake a full assessment on the impact of 24-hour opening, evidence has been provided by the store, comparing the application with a similar store in Peterlee.

The Asda supermarket is situated to the west of South Church Road, in Bishop Auckland, and has recently been granted planning permission for a petrol station.

The main impact of 24-hour opening would be on the surrounding residential areas.

A previous application was withdrawn, as insufficient information was provided to make a full assessment of the impact of a 24-hour opening.

The key issues being considered by Wear Valley District Council are anti-social behaviour, noise, an increase in traffic in surrounding residential areas, noise from delivery vehicles and how local residents would respond to the proposal.

Environmental Health officials had no objections to the proposals. A survey compiled by the Peterlee store showed that the weekly volume of customers using the store between 9pm and 8am is 3,235 customers.

The current weekly volume of customers at Bishop Auckland's store is 49,534.

Objections so far have been raised by residents of on Blackett Street and South View, who complained about a possible increase in traffic, pollution, noise and anti-social behaviour.

The proposal will be discussed at a meeting of the district council on Wednesday, at Crook's Civic Centre.