Retirement apartments set to be given go-ahead

Developer McCarthy and Stone is seeking permission from Darlington Borough Council to tear down the Larchfield Sports Centre, in the town centre.

It wants to demolish the Larchfield Street facility in order to provide 44 sheltered flats for elderly people, together with accommodation for a resident house manager and car parking space.

The centre is owned by Darlington College of Technology, which is relocating to a new £34.5m brownfield site off Haughton Road.

The revamped college forms a key part of the £170m Central Park masterplan for the area, which will also see a hotel, conference centre, offices and new housing created.

Work has already started on the new campus, which will incorporate leisure and sporting facilities.

That has rendered the Larchfield Centre surplus to requirements, but the housing scheme is expected to breathe new life into the site.

The council's planning committee meets in the town hall tomorrow and is expected to approve the development.

Under the proposals, a single three-storey building containing 31 one-bedroomed and 13 two-bedroomed apartments would be constructed. Councillors are being urged to approve the scheme after fears about the loss of local sporting facilities were allayed.

An officers' report to the committee says: "It is considered that the alternative sporting provision to be provided at the college's new site within Central Park will more than adequately compensate for the loss from this site.

"The occupation of the new residential development should, however, be prevented until such time as the new sporting facilities have been provided."

The report also says the development would be far enough away from nearby properties to prevent a loss of privacy.

Funding for the college's Haughton Road development is coming from the sale of the Larchfield Centre and its present Cleveland Avenue site, where developer Charles Church has permission to build 129 properties.