TESCO is behind plans to build a new town hall in Darlington as part of a multi-million development, The Northern Echo can reveal.

The supermarket chain is in talks with Darlington Borough Council about demolishing the town hall in Feethams and building modern council offices alongside a supermarket and new housing.

Council chiefs said last night that discussions were still in the early stages, although a decision from Tesco on whether it will proceed with the plan is expected by Easter.

The proposed 7.97-acre development includes the town hall, the former bus station and the council car park on the opposite side of the road.

John Buxton, the council's director of development and environment, said: "It's a complete redevelopment of the whole site that is currently being proposed.

"But there are a lot of stages to go through before this development can be considered probable rather than possible.

"First of all, Tesco has got to decide that it definitely wants to do it. We as a council have got to decide in principle if we want to go ahead. There have got to be planning approvals. There's a long way to go and a lot will change. Neither ourselves nor Tesco are committed to the development."

The authority has not released details of the layout of the proposed scheme, the size of the supermarket, the quantity of housing involved or the likely design of any council building.

But Mr Buxton confirmed that the present town hall, opened by Princess Anne in 1970 and which houses about 450 council workers, would be demolished if the plan went ahead.

"If the development ever happens, the town hall will undoubtedly disappear," he said.

"I'm sure that will provoke an interesting reaction, both for and against. The fact is, it's not big enough and it's not flexible enough.

"Tesco would probably build another one. In terms of design, we have just told them our requirements."

He said the cost of the development, thought to be one of the first of its kind in the country, would run into tens of millions of pounds, although Tesco had not yet come up with a total figure.

Replacing the town hall would cost at least £10m, and moving the bus station - now a garage leased by the council to Arriva - would cost several million more.

Mr Buxton said the development would utilise a prime town centre site, which had been neglected.

"We have always felt that Darlington as a town centre doesn't make best use of all the land there is," he said.

"We have got this pretty awful bus station, which doesn't need to be in the town centre at all.

"This development brings housing into the town centre, and more people living in the town centre has got to be good for business.

"We are positive about the fact that Tesco thinks it is worthwhile doing this type of development and that they are prepared to spend the time and money putting proposals together for us to consider.

"We do think it will have a positive benefit overall on the town centre."

Three years ago, plans for a leisure complex, including a multi-screen cinema, on the bus station site fell through.

Developer Terrace Hill got planning permission to build an office block on the opposite side of the road in 2002, but it has since sold its land to Knightsbridge-based Raven Newport Ltd.

The rest of the proposed development site is owned by the council, which could either sell its land to Tesco or grant the supermarket chain a long lease.

Council leader John Williams said: "Discussions really are at a very early stage, but Tesco's approach once again underlines the amount of interest there is from major developers in Darlington town centre."

No one from Tesco was available for comment last night.