Approval given for business unit that will create 700 jobs

Despite concerns over noise and extra traffic that would be generated by the 740,000 sq ft development on the Faverdale East Business Park in Darlington, councillors unanimously supported the scheme.

Ward councillor Barrie Armstrong told Darlington Borough Council's planning committee: "New jobs are vitally important, but we also need to protect the living standards of established residents."

He said the building would be more than a quarter-of-a-mile long and twice the height of an average house.

A report said the predicted increase in traffic would average one extra vehicle every 39 seconds.

Half of them would be condensed into three periods when shift changes occurred, intensified by being on a single-carriage road about three-quarters of a mile long.

The business estate has been in council plans since the 1970s, but the road system to support it is not yet complete.

Coun Armstrong said: "In the Faverdale area, we have barely one mile of cross-town route and then a dead end.

"Whether the ideal solution would be the completion of the cross-town route, a new road from the nearest A1M roundabout or some other scheme is difficult to say.

"But with phase one still to come 'on-stream' and the prospect of Argos incorporating a contact centre with more employees sometime in the future, we have a less than adequate road system."

Planning officer Adrian Miller told councillors that all the residents of nearby High Grange had been given the opportunity to comment, but only four letters of objection had been received.

Council leader Councillor John Williams said: "The simple fact is residents recognise this land has always been reserved for development and knew that before they bought their homes."

The outline scheme was approved with conditions that included a contribution by Argos to improve bus services, a footpath and cycleway; a large landscaped mound and acoustic fencing sound insulation and restrictions on floodlighting.