COUNCIL officials have been found guilty of making a series of errors over a £20m football stadium.

A Local Government Ombudsman report, seen by The Northern Echo, says Darlington Borough Council should have sought a High Court injunction to prevent the opening of Darlington Football Club's Reynolds Arena.

Ombudsman Patricia Thomas says the council's failure to block the opening of the ground represented a case of maladministration because so many of the original planning conditions had been breached.

A subsidised bus service, residents' parking scheme and improvements to the road network around the venue should have been in place when it opened just under two years ago.

The requirements were set out in a legally-binding agreement in 2000, after planning permission was granted, and it was accepted that the Neasham Road stadium could not open until they had been met.

But the ground opened in August 2003 without those conditions having been complied with - to the fury of nearby residents, who complained to the ombudsman.

The club, which faced growing financial problems as work on the ground continued, eventually collapsed into administration in December 2003.

Last night, council bosses said taking legal action to block the stadium's opening would have resulted in the loss of the town's football club after 120 years in existence.

A residents' parking scheme was eventually put in place - funded by the council - only weeks after the stadium's opening, while officials believed that the likelihood of major problems on the nearby A66 was low.

The authority said it also faced major problems in dealing with then chairman George Reynolds, who was determined that the venue would open that August.

But Mrs Thomas's report, to be published this week, says: "There were so many breaches of the agreement unresolved by the August opening that I consider the failure to seek an injunction to be maladministration.

"Even taking into account the financial problems and the difficulties of dealing with the owner at that time, the failure to take a more robust approach had the effect of undermining the confidence of residents in the council's assurances that their amenity would be protected through the enforcement of the conditions and the planning agreement."

She adds: "As a result of the failure to prevent the opening until adequate provisions were in place, the residents have suffered avoidable disturbance, inconvenience and traffic problems."

But last night, the council said that, in its view, not seeking an injunction or issuing a stop notice for work on the ground did not represent maladministration.

Development and environment director John Buxton said: "We considered very carefully, with the benefit of legal advice, what our options were and whether we should seek to stop it opening.

"We came to the conclusion that we wouldn't get an injunction awarded by the High Court and that it wasn't appropriate to use stop notice procedures.

"We felt those remedies were too severe because they would have put Darlington Football Club out of existence."

He added that there was nothing in the ombudsman's report suggesting an alternative route that could have been taken.

"There is nothing in the remedies to say there is something else that we should have done," he said.

"The ombudsman is saying that our conclusion was wrong and that is maladministration. I think we were exercising our judgement."

Mr Reynolds, who stepped down as chairman in January last year, admitted being difficult to work with - but said the council was worse.

"You can't run a business on 12 hours a month. The council wouldn't let me do concerts, car boot sales, antique fairs or computer sales," he said.

"I was told they would slacken off once I had proved myself and it was up and running, but I was treated very shabbily."

He also said traffic provision was adequate, saying: "The stadium is close to the train station and a lot of people walk.

"I put in more car parking spaces than they have in Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough."

Two complainants, whose protests led to Mrs Thomas's report, also criticised the process that led to the grant-ing of public entertainment licences at the stadium. Maladministration was also found over that issue.

Jan Mazurk, of the Neasham Road Action Group, which campaigned against aspects of the stadium, declined to comment last night.