SUPERMARKET group Morrisons yesterday announced plans to sell a number of Safeway stores in the region to rival group Sainsbury's.

Darlington's main Safeway store in Victoria Road, and others at Whitehouse Farm, in Stockton, Team Valley and Heaton, in Tyne and Wear, and Tadcaster and Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, will become Sainsbury's supermarkets.

The Morrisons store in Ripon, North Yorkshire, will also be sold to Sainsbury's.

Morrisons must sell 52 stores to comply with conditions set by the Competition Commission when it gave the company the go-ahead for the £3bn takeover of Safeways in March.

Although no price was put on the latest sale, which is subject to Government approval, the supermarkets are thought to have a value of about £110m.

Earlier this year, Morrisons sold 14 stores to Waitrose.

Staff at the Safeway stores involved will be transferred to Sainsbury's.

Retail expert Anthony Platts, of Wise Speke, said: "Sainsbury's has finally realised that people in the North-East actually eat.

"This deal shows Sainsbury's financial clout in that they can pull off a deal of this size. Sainsbury's has cherry-picked the best stores to buy. Darlington's Victoria Road store is massive, and the Team Valley store is a flagship Safeway."

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King said the move was an opportunity for the group to increase its selling space by more than 400,000sq ft.

He said: "Such opportunities have become increasingly rare and we are delighted to secure these stores and look forward to introducing Sainsbury's products and services to new areas and customers."

Bob Scott, joint managing director of Morrisons, said: "Our integration of the Safeway business with Morrisons is progressing and the announcement is a further step in the overall process."

Morrisons has now sold 28 of the required 52 stores.

The others remaining to be sold include those at Ingleby Barwick, on Teesside, Redcar, Loftus, Guisborough and Coulby Newham, in Middlesbrough.

Darlington's smaller Safeway store, in Cockerton, must also be sold.

Elsewhere in the UK, stores being sold include those at Cramlington, in Northumberland, Grantham, Lytham St Annes, Chafford Hundred, Mansfield, Spalding and Scunthorpe.

Earlier this year, Sainsbury's bought Bells Stores for £22m and is in the process of rebranding branches.