A MULTI-MILLION pound supermarket development in the centre of Darlington would mean extra car parking, council bosses insisted last night.

Tesco is in talks with the borough council to knock down the town hall and build new council offices, plus a supermarket and housing, in Feethams.

The development site currently houses 497 pay-and-display public car parking spaces, some behind the town hall and others in the three car parks in Beaumont Street.

Darlington Market Traders' Association said it was vital that the new development did not reduce the number of spaces available.

Vice-chairman Robin Blair said: "The council has got to ensure the car parking spaces can be used for the town centre, not just for Tesco."

Clive Owen, vice-chairman of Darlington Civic Trust, said: "It's bound to involve multi-level parking. They couldn't satisfy the demand for spaces without that.

"The design of that will be very important and we will be paying close attention to that."

An authority spokesman said the proposed development would mean more car parking spaces, not fewer.

"It's far too early to say whether it will be multi-storey parking or not," he said.

"But what we can say is that there will be more public car parking available if the development goes ahead."

He said it was too early to comment on how the development could affect town centre traffic. If Tesco proceeds with the scheme and submit a planning application it will have to include a traffic impact assessment.

Tesco was not prepared to discuss details of the plan.